Bodies of miners leave Johannesburg

The bodies of the 22 Zimbabwean illegal gold miners who died in a Roodepoort mine in Johannesburg have left Johannesburg Friday morning.

The bodies departed from Kings and Queens Funeral Parlour shortly after ten in the morning. A very emotionally short send off service was held attended by hundreds of people causing temporary closure of Joe Slovo drive and businesses in the area.

The acting Zimbabwean ambassador to South Africa spoke briefly at the service thanking staff members at his office for assisting the relatives with travel documents and helping clear the bodies with South African authorities. Mr Dingilizwe Mpondo the ZAPU Director of Finance in the Diaspora handed over a further R1 800 to the families collected from ZAPU members who attended the ceremony.

The bodies are expected to arrived in Bulawayo in the early hours of Saturday morning where another service will be held at Kings and Queens Funeral Parlour before leaving for burial in their respective rural home.

Several political and community leaders in Bulawayo have already announced that they will be attending the service in Bulawayo. The MDC T has sent online reports that Bulawayo South Member of Parliament Thabitha Khumalo will receive the bodies just outside Bulawayo.

Dumiso Dabengwa of ZAPU is expected to be the main speaker in the function on the invitation of the family members who have worked with his party members in South Africa throughout the debacle. The MDC led by Professor Welshman Ncube has also confirmed that they will attend the meeting but did not specify who will represent the party on the podium.

Bulawayo 24 will keep you updated on all the events around the burials and will try to be at all the burial points for up to the minute update.