Shona man beaten up for using 'wrong word' at a Ndebele funeral

A City man, Zwarayi Shumbayanetsa of Lobengula West was seriously beaten up at a funeral in Nkulumane 5 recently by a group of youths.

Shumbayanetsa who could not speak Ndebele is said to have accompanied his workmate who had lost a relative.

Upon arrival, the two went into the house and the friend to Shumbayanetsa was called by one of his family members.

While Shumbayanetsa tried to comfort the bereaved family members of the deceased who were in the house, he greeted two of the family members in the house in Shona and they ignored him.

Shumbayanetsa  later realised that the family members were ignoring him because of his language. It is said that he tried to switch to isiNdebele.

Before speaking to the parents of the deceased Shumbayanetsa kept quiet for a while and all of a sudden he moved closer to the parents in the house and he stretched his hand to the parents uttering the word ezibhubhileyo (those that have died).

This did not go down well with family members in the house and they called him out and started assaulting him.

One of the family members who identified himself as Ncube admitted that there was a problem of that sort at the funeral.
 
"My nephews wanted to beat up Shumbayanetsa and I controlled the situation and they freed him as for elderly people we understand that Shumbayanetsa tried his level best because all what is important is to greet people at a funeral," he said.

Contacted for comment Shumbayanetsa confirmed that he was beaten up and he saw nothing "wrong as he was greeting people because he thought that the word "ezibhubhileyo" meant the same thing as Nedzoyi and Nematambudziko.

"I admit that i was beaten up and I beg you not to write the story because I had gone there with my best friend and I don't want them to think otherwise about me because one of the elderly people who were present spoke to me and he apologised about the issue," he said.