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dismissed as unfounded allegations being levelled against their daughter.
Emmanuel Masamba, a kombi driver, collapsed while on duty and later died this week while admitted to Gweru Provincial Hospital.
He was buried on Wednesday at Gweru Central Cemetery, also known as Mtapa Cemetery.
Relatives of Masamba had to call in the police to quell some rowdy kombi crews and touts who attempted to block the burial, accusing his wife, Ellen, of being responsible for the death of their colleague.
Some of the touts threw themselves into the grave, as they demanded a public apology from Mrs Masamba whom they were alleging had been caught red-handed by the husband before he collapsed and later died at Gweru Provincial Hospital.
A delegation of three elderly women visited Chronicle’s Gweru office yesterday and dismissed as false reports that Masamba’s death had been caused by his wife’s alleged infidelity.
They said their son-in-law could have died as result of stroke after complaining of a severe headache.
“You were so irresponsible and unprofessional when you decided to publish your story without talking to us, the relatives of the concerned parties.
“Our daughter is now in pain, she lost a husband and now has to face the embarrassment caused by the malicious allegations raised by the touts. For your information, Masamba’s father is not feeling well and our daughter has been taking care of him.
“He was discharged from hospital about two weeks ago. Now you want the poor man to be left unattended after we take our daughter? Is that your duty as newspapers to destroy people’s homes with unfounded allegations?” the senior of the three women charged.
The women said the allegations were brought about by some jealous touts and kombi crews during the funeral wake who were after their son-law’s assets.
“We were surprised as relatives when the touts, some of them drunk, spoke about this infidelity issue.
“Masamba had never told us as his in-laws that he once caught his wife with another man and we don’t know where the touts got the information from,” said the woman who said she was Mrs Masamba’s mother.
The elderly woman said they were left dumbfounded when kombi drivers and touts verbally abused a Salvation Army Church pastor and Mrs Masamba during the funeral church service.
They said they later called in the police when the touts grabbed the coffin at the cemetery and raised it high in the air in an apparent act of demonstrating, demanding that Mrs Masamba should publicly apologise for causing the death of her husband.
“Some jumped into the grave while others threw the coffin up as if there was nothing inside it. We were left shocked by the touts and kombi crews’ behaviour and were don’t know how best the police can address this issue because Gweru kombi crews and touts are becoming a nuisance whenever one of their colleagues dies.
“They should learn to respect the dead. Their behaviour is unheard of in our culture as Africans,” said another elderly woman.
She said they were forced to excuse Mrs Masamba at the burial because of the unbecoming behaviour of the touts.
“Instead of us leading the burial proceedings as relatives, the funeral was hijacked by the touts,” she said.
The elderly women said they now feared that Mrs Masamba could be victimised by the touts and kombi crews.
“She has a driver’s licence and she must take over and drive the commuter omnibus, which is the source of their income but we now fear for her life since the touts wanted to assault her.
“We don’t know what crime she committed. Our daughter and her late husband were very much in love and there is no single day that we heard of her alleged infidelity. Surprisingly, her misdemeanours are known by the touts and kombi crews,” said one of the elderly women.
There was commotion when Masamba’s burial was stopped for close to an hour with touts and kombi crews demanding that his wife should publicly apologise before the burial could take place.
Mrs Masamba was later taken away.
Masamba is survived by wife, Ellen, and two children.
Online Reporter