A Bulawayo court was recently left in shock after a 44-year-old man was arraigned for secretly burying his dead mother on his own, three hours after she died.
The court learnt the man lived with his ailing mother at his homestead in Mawayilesini village in Insuza.
Mncedisi Mabena (44) pleaded guilty to a charge of failure to give a notice of death of a person to the district registrar.
Bulawayo Magistrate Franklin Mkhwananzi fined Mabena $50.00 for the offence.
In mitigation, Mabena told the court he had no relatives and there is bad blood between him and his village elders hence no one would have attended the funeral wake.
“I had no other option Your Worship. All my relatives died. The surviving one is in South Africa but could not come to the funeral,” he said.
“My village elders do not like me either, they said they do not want anything to do with our family. This left me with no choice but to bury my mother on my own,” said Mabena.
According to the State case, as presented by Mufaro Mageza, Mabena’s mother passed away on June 20 last year at 12 PM and he proceeded to bury her at 3 PM.
“The accused was staying alone with his mother at his homestead. She had been sick for a long time. She died at 12 midday,” said Mageza.
Mageza said Mabena proceeded to dig a grave within his homestead where he buried his mother.
“At around 3 PM, Mabena buried his mother on his own at his homestead. He did not give a notice of death to the district registrar,” he said.
