Online Reporter
Bongani Ndlovu [email protected]
THE bodies of Zandile Nothabo Khumalo and her two daughters, Natalie and Nala, arrived in Bulawayo on Monday evening, bringing to an end their journey from the United Kingdom ahead of their burial on Tuesday.
The hearses arrived from Harare by road and passed through the Ntabazinduna tollgate at 5.40pm and waited for the family members to receive the three bodies.
The family members had gathered at the tollgate and were joined by a convoy of cars, which then travelled to Nyaradzo Funeral Parlour in Bulawayo, where the bodies will lie in state ahead of Tuesday’s burial.
The bodies arrived at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport in Harare in the early hours of today after a weather-related delay disrupted their journey from the United Kingdom. Their flight was forced to divert to Djibouti after bad weather prevented it from landing in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, causing them to miss a connecting flight to Bulawayo.
From Harare, the bodies were transported by road to Bulawayo, where relatives and loved ones waited anxiously for their arrival.
Tomorrow, the bodies will briefly pass through the Khumalo family home in Gwabalanda before a funeral service at Brethren in Christ Church in Lobengula. They will thereafter be laid to rest side by side at Old Luveve Cemetery.
The family has previously described the successful repatriation of Nothabo and her daughters as a source of comfort, saying it fulfilled their wish for the three to be buried together in Zimbabwe.
Nothabo (42) and her daughters, Natalie (15) and Nala (5), were found dead at their home in Great Denham, Bedfordshire, on July 6. A post-mortem examination confirmed that all three died from blunt force trauma.
Her husband and the children’s father, Ndodana Mkhanyisi Tshuma, a Zimbabwean-born British citizen, fled the United Kingdom following the deaths and was arrested in Kensington, Johannesburg, South Africa, on July 10 in a joint operation involving the South African Police Service and Interpol.
He is in custody in South Africa, where he is facing 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.
The deaths of Nothabo and her daughters shocked Zimbabweans both at home and abroad, prompting an outpouring of support from communities in Zimbabwe, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Canada, who contributed financially and emotionally towards the repatriation and funeral arrangements.
