adminSikhumbuzo Moyo: Senior Sports Reporter
FORMER Highlanders Rugby Club player Lameck Kasuka, who died last Sunday at the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) at the age of 49, will be buried at Lady Stanley Cemetery this morning.
Kasuka had been confined to a wheelchair at UBH for the past 26 years after sustaining a horrific spinal injury during training in 1990.
“Burial will be at Lady Stanley tomorrow (today). We will begin with a church service at Beit Hall in Luveve at 9AM and after that the funeral procession will move to his final resting place at Lady Stanley,” said Louise Kasuka, Lameck’s sister.
A number of the game’s notable personalities are expected to be in attendance to pay their last respects to a former player, whose promising career was painfully cut short at the age of 23.
Among those expected to deliver the main eulogy at the funeral is Zimbabwe Rugby Union president Nyararai Sibanda, a former teammate of Kasuka at Highlanders who was present at the fateful training session in 1990.
Matabeleland Rugby Football Board (MRFB) chairman Theo Weale will lead the local rugby leadership, which will also include teams from the region.
The late Kasuka also played alongside the likes of Thulani Tabulawa, Brian Arendse, United Kingdom-based Shadreck Sibanda and the late Sheppard Mukorera.
At the time of his death, Savanna Tobacco had agreed to assist Kasuka, who ran a rugby tournament through his Lamsuka Foundation.
According to the Lady Stanley burial criteria, one must have made an outstanding contribution to the well-being of the community as a whole in one or more of the fields of social activities, civic matters, education, religious leadership, business leadership, sport, charity, journalism, outstanding donations (in kind or cash) outstanding trade unionism leadership, invention which benefited the community as a whole and any other outstanding contribution as may be deemed appropriate from time to time.
Kasuka’s foundation also benefited residents of Gwabalanda and Luveve suburbs from time to time through free medical services.
Online Reporter