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FIVE days after he died in Harare of a heart attack, Eddie “Mboma” Nyatanga was finally buried at Glen Forest in Harare yesterday.
It ended a week of high drama in which family disputes overshadowed the death of the founding leader of the Zimbabwe National Soccer Supporters Association.
The disputes resulted in mourners gathering at two different locations in Harare last week amid haggling over where his funeral should be held.
Mboma died on Tuesday at home in Borrowdale Brooke.
He was 63.
His friends wanted his funeral to be a celebration of his life which was mostly lived under the public spotlight.
Mboma was a maverick larger-than-life character who transformed himself into one of the most influential characters on the local football scene.
Many saw him as one of the real kingmakers when it came to the boardroom battles which accompany the election of ZIFA board members.
But, those friends were left a disappointed lot as they really didn’t know where to go for his funeral.
His two widows organised a funeral at their respective homes in Mount Pleasant and Borrowdale Brooke.
Mboma’s first wife, Virginia, organised his funeral at her home in Mount Pleasant while his second wife, Angeline, organised a funeral at her home in Borrowdale Brooke.
“It appears Mboma was never going to go away without some drama emerging and this is what we are dealing with right now,” said one of the mourners.
“Mboma lived his life to the full and, maybe, it was meant to be that he was never going to go away quietly.”
“Of course, a resolution will be found because the elders are dealing with the issue.”
The confusion followed his body at Nyaradzo funeral parlour on Saturday.
The church service at the parlour was scheduled to start at 1pm and a number of family members and scores of his friends gathered at the parlour.
However, they were told that there had been some complications, caused by another wave of disputes over where his body would be taken when it leaves the parlour, and the start of the service was moved to 3pm.
One of the families insisted that the body should be taken to Mount Pleasant while the other wanted the body to be taken to Borrowdale Brooke.
With the disputes taking centre stage it meant that the service did not start until around 5pm.
This was after those who wanted the body to be taken to Mount Pleasant won the battle.
But, if they thought the disputes were over, they were wrong.
Yesterday, there were further issues and his burial time had to be moved from 2pm to 3pm.
This was quite sad and the two families know that they could have handled this situation better than what they did.
They ended up turning Mboma’s funeral into a farce and they know that this is a man who deserved better than what he got in the past week.
It’s a shame and they both know that.
Online Reporter