Shocking: 'Woman dies, resurrects, dies again'

MOST people wish they could get a chance to know the day they will die or rather to wake up from the dead so that they can express their final wishes to their loved ones.

But it seems one woman from Emganwini suburb in Bulawayo got such a rare chance when she allegedly "died", but on her way to the mortuary woke up and talked to her relatives before she died again.

The incident, a rare occurrence across the globe, is said to have happened on Monday when the late Ms Thokozile Dlamini who was 37 died twice.

When Sunday News attended the funeral on Thursday, the incident was the talk of the gathering although relatives were not readily forthcoming wit more information.

However, neighbours and those who were at the funeral said Ms Dlamini first passed on around 3am.

"In the early hours we were awaken by people who were crying and that is when we were told Ms Dlamini had passed on. The family arranged that her body be collected by Nyaradzo Funeral Company at around 5am," said a neighbour who begged not to be named to avoid tensions with the family.

It is said when the Nyaradzo Funeral Company hearse came, and as they were about to place the body into the hearse, she woke up and started talking.

"After she woke up she started talking to the family members. As the family was still in shock and at the same time happy, one of them called an ambulance. However, soon after the ambulance arrived, she died again, this time never to resurrect again,"

When the Sunday News tried to talk to the woman's husband, he said he was still in shock and mourning his wife so he could not discuss the circumstances that led to her death.

Another neighbour said the previous day, Ms Dlamini collapsed while at a church service and people suspected that she could have been suffering from a heart attack.

Contacted for comment Nyaradzo Funeral Group spokesperson Ms Kudzai Mpunzwana initially said she was looking into the matter. She later requested questions in writing but had not replied by the time of going to Press.

A medical expert, Dr Wellington Ranga of Ingutsheni Hospital in Bulawayo told Sunday News that medically it was impossible to resurrect.

"Death is irreversible but we have heard of such scenarios whereby one is said to have resurrected from the dead but in medical cases I would like to say whoever pronounced her dead missed something. I am not the one who attended this case but I think the historical background of the deceased should say something about the events that took place."

Another medical practitioner said there is a possibility that the person who pronounced her dead failed to pick up on the pulse yet it was still there.

"The person was still alive, the pulse was there but whoever pronounced her dead could not pick it up. Such mistakes happen," said another doctor.

Sunday News also managed to talk to Mr Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu, a traditionalist who said such things have been heard of in the past but that does not mean in this particular case this is exactly what happened.

"I would like to refer to this as comatose whereby one will be in comma for some hours. There is a possibility that the families could have declared her dead while she was still alive and gained consciousness after some hours," he said.

"Long ago in the rural areas when someone had symptoms of a dead person, elders will put river sand inside a hut and pour water, and leave the body overnight. This is what we referred to as rigor motif whereby you will be stiffening the body."

Ms Dlamini was buried at Luveve Cemetery on Thursday. An almost similar case has been reported in Zimbabwe. In 2013, mourners at a funeral in Gweru were stunned when a dead man woke up as they filed by his coffin. It is said mourners noticed Brighton Dama Zanthe's legs moving while they were queuing for body viewing and that is when they discovered that he had resurrected. Zanthe's body had spent a night in the mortuary.