Online Reporter
Bulawayo Bureau
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.
The husband and father, Ndodana Mkhanyisi Tshuma was arrested on July 10 in Kensington, Johannesburg.
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
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.
