Online Reporter
THERE is a special kind of cruelty that only shows its teeth when a coffin is lowered into the ground.
It is the cruelty of relatives who arrive with tears in their eyes and knives in their pockets. They come pretending to mourn, yet their real mission is to grab property, chase away widows and widowers, and rewrite history as if the surviving spouse never existed.
The painful story of Fidas Sibanda is not new. It is an old Zimbabwean nightmare that refuses to die.
A man loses his wife of 23 years. Before the soil on her grave settles, in-laws descend on the home they built together. Locks are changed. Property is looted. Even underwear is taken. The widower is told he no longer exists. The house he paid for is suddenly not his. The marriage he lived in is suddenly a lie.
This is how families break families.
Many surviving spouses are thrown into the street by the very people they once fed, clothed and supported. The same relatives who borrowed money, asked for school fees and ran to the couple whenever there was a crisis are often the first to sharpen their teeth when death arrives.
It is shameful. It is heartless. It is criminal.
What makes these cases even more painful is that many couples buy stands together, build homes together, and raise families together, only to be told later that custom, blood or church titles now erase years of sweat and sacrifice.
Some widows and widowers end up sleeping on sofas, in backrooms or in villages they left decades ago, while strangers occupy the homes they built brick by brick.
Death should not be a business opportunity.
Under Zimbabwean law, surviving spouses are protected. The Administration of Estates Act is clear. A surviving spouse has the right to remain in the matrimonial home. Relatives are not allowed to grab property before an estate is properly administered. No one has the right to seize a house, furniture, vehicles or clothing simply because a person has died.
There is also a powerful remedy called a spoliation order. This court order forces anyone who has unlawfully taken over a house to move out and restore possession to the person who was chased away. It does not matter who claims ownership. What matters is that no one is allowed to take the law into their own hands.
For properties still awaiting transfer, the High Court can order registration if a lawful interest is proven. Paperwork delays do not give relatives permission to turn into land barons.
We condemn, in the strongest terms, this culture of graveyard greed.
We condemn relatives who wait for funerals so they can inherit houses, cars and furniture.
We condemn pastors, elders and community leaders who hide behind religion while breaking families apart.
If you helped build that home, if you paid for that stand, if you shared that bed and that life, you do not deserve to be thrown out like a stray dog.
Death is painful enough. Losing a spouse is a wound that never truly heals. No one should add salt to that wound by turning mourning into eviction.
To every widow and widower suffering in silence, know this: the law is on your side. Fight back. Speak out. Go to court.
And to every greedy relative circling like a vulture, remember this: graves are patient. One day, they will also wait for you.
