Online Reporter
Bongani Ndlovu [email protected]
As darkness fell over Bulawayo yesterday evening, a solemn convoy of hearses and vehicles carrying the bodies of a mother and her daughters wound slowly through the city, ending a month-long vigil for a family desperate to bring their loved ones home.
Zandile Nothabo Khumalo, 42, and her daughters — Natalie, 15, and Nala, 5 — were discovered dead at their home in Great Denham, Bedfordshire, on July 6. Post-mortem examinations confirmed that all three died from blunt force trauma.
The husband and father, Ndodana Mkhanyisi Tshuma, a Zimbabwean-born British citizen, fled the United Kingdom following the deaths. He was arrested on July 10 in Kensington, Johannesburg, during a joint operation by the South African Police Service and Interpol.
Tshuma, who is in custody in South Africa, faces a charge of unlawful possession of a firearm. The United Kingdom has authorised three counts of murder against him and is seeking his extradition to stand trial.
At the Ntabazinduna tollgate, grief-stricken relatives gathered to receive the bodies at 5:40 PM. From there, the convoy made its way along Harare Road, turned onto George Avenue, then 23rd Avenue, and onto Plumtree Road before finally turning into Siyephambili Drive and arriving at Nyaradzo Funeral Parlour in Tshabalala suburb.
Along the route, pedestrians paused to watch, and motorists slowed down as word spread that the three had finally returned to Bulawayo.
The bodies had earlier arrived at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport in Harare before being transported by road to Bulawayo after a weather-related delay disrupted their journey from the United Kingdom over the weekend.
At the Ntabazinduna tollgate, emotions ran high as relatives welcomed the convoy carrying their loved ones.
This was the first time that the family had seen their loved ones since the tragedy and the reality struck that indeed they were gone.
Family members had gradually trickled in at the tollgate, arriving vehicle by vehicle before parking along the roadside to await the convoy. For many, it was the first time they had physically accompanied their loved ones since the tragedy, making the painful reality of their loss impossible to escape.
A lead car from Nyaradzo Funeral Parlour came from their Bulawayo office to guide the three hearses to the mortuary where they lay in state ahead of today’s burial.
Some family members could not hold back their tears as they prepared to accompany the hearses on the final stretch of the journey into the city.
When the convoy finally arrived at Nyaradzo Funeral Parlour in Tshabalala, relatives who had been waiting quietly walked towards one another, exchanging embraces as tears flowed freely. Others remained silent, finding comfort in each other’s presence after weeks of waiting to bring Nothabo and her daughters home.
A Nyaradzo Funeral Services official thanked the family for coming and assured them that all arrangements for the funeral remained on course.
The official said the programme for today had not changed. The bodies will leave Nyaradzo Funeral Parlour today at 7AM before making a brief stop at the Khumalo family home in Gwabalanda.
From there, the cortege will proceed to Brethren in Christ Church in New Lobengula for a funeral service before Nothabo and her daughters are laid to rest side by side at Old Luveve Cemetery.
The Khumalo family was asked to stay behind to make final logistical arrangements, while friends and the rest of the family were milling around, still consoling each other.
In Gwabalanda suburb, the community gathered for a night vigil as they continued to support the Khumalo family during the final leg of the burial journey.
The successful repatriation of the three has brought a measure of comfort to the Khumalo family, who had previously expressed relief that Natalie and Nala, who were born in the United Kingdom, would be buried alongside their mother in Zimbabwe.
