Tragic morgue mix-up: Family buries stranger in Mangwe district

What was meant to be a solemn farewell for their beloved son turned into a shocking and bewildering ordeal for the Ndebele family from Matanka Two Village in Mangwe District, Matabeleland South. The family mistakenly buried a Lesotho national last month due to a tag mix-up at a South African morgue, instead of their son, Bambanani Ndebele, who died after being struck with a knobkerrie at a party he had hosted in South Africa.

The error only came to light after the burial when the Lesotho family, preparing to bury their own son who had died from gunshot wounds, realized that the body they received was not their relative. By then, the Ndebele family had already laid the wrong person to rest in their family graveyard at Cross Roads Village under Chief Bango's area.

Now, both families face the arduous and delicate task of correcting the mistake, while grappling with cultural concerns and the need to appease the spirits of the deceased. The incident has sparked fear and confusion in the community, with the Ndebele family graveyard becoming a source of anxiety.

Mr. Edison Ndebele, Bambanani's 85-year-old uncle, spoke of the family's shock and fear about the potential spiritual consequences of burying a stranger in their sacred family graveyard. "We are in fear because we buried a stranger thinking he was our family member. We don't know what burial rituals people from Lesotho follow," he lamented. "What if this mistake curses our family?"

He added that they had performed rituals to inform Bambanani's late mother, also buried in the same graveyard, about her son's burial. "It was all in vain," he said somberly.

Despite some relatives, including Bambanani's wife, raising concerns about the body's identity during the burial, an elder overruled them, insisting it was indeed Bambanani. Bambanani's other uncle, Mr. Anthony Ndebele, had also questioned the identity of the body, but his concerns were dismissed.

"I asked my sister three times if she was sure the body was Bambanani's, and each time she affirmed," Mr. Anthony Ndebele recounted. "I don't know why I felt compelled to ask repeatedly."

Urban Services Funeral Parlour, the company responsible for the tag mix-up, has promised to cover all costs involved in rectifying the situation. The family now anxiously awaits the exhumation and repatriation of the Lesotho national's body, while arrangements are being made to finally bury Bambanani, whose body remains in South Africa.

"We expect Bambanani's body to arrive from South Africa tomorrow. We don't know what to expect when they arrive, but we hope someone from Lesotho will come to perform appeasement rituals," said Mr. Edison Ndebele, expressing fears of lingering spiritual consequences.

The incident has left the Ndebele family and the entire community deeply unsettled. Gogo MaNcube, a local villager, expressed the community's unease, stating that many are now afraid to pass by the graveyard at night. "It's terrifying to think someone else's child is buried here while his family grieves far away," she said.

The Ndebele family remains on edge, with their lives "on hold" as they wait for the situation to be resolved. Despite this, no unusual occurrences have been reported at the grave, though the community continues to grapple with the unsettling nature of the incident.

Village head Mr. Dinias Moyo described the atmosphere in the community as one of deep shock. "This is something we've never experienced before. The entire village is trying to come to terms with what has happened."

The tragic mix-up serves as a haunting reminder of the need for thorough verification during funeral proceedings, with Mr. Edison Ndebele urging others to be vigilant during body identification to prevent such distressing errors in the future.