Postponed funeral of councillor to go ahead after court ruling

 A FAMILY in KwaZulu-Natal North Coast is relieved that the Durban High Court ruled in its favour to grant them the right to bury their daughter-in-law after her maiden family held a bogus funeral service while her corpse was at a funeral parlour.

Sebenzile Sibiya, née Mthembu, died on May 16 after she fell ill.  She was a proportional representative councillor of Lindelani, KwaDukuza, in the North Coast. Her funeral was postponed after her maiden family, the Mthembus, wanted to bury her.

Her in-laws approached a local induna, Pinky Ndunakazi, to intervene after negotiations between the two families reached a stalemate. Her interventions were scuppered after the Mthembus ignored her when she visited the family accompanied by izinduna from nearby villages.

"We found the wife of the deceased's brother, who said her husband was the one who was supposed to speak on behalf of the family but was not around," said Ndunakazi.

When Ndunakazi asked for her husband's number, she refused and said she would rather take her details and give it to her husband to call her back.

"I left my number, but he didn't call. Then the Sibiya family ended up approaching the court," said Ndunakazi.

At the centre of the dispute was where she would be buried. The Mthembus preferred Lindelani, in KwaDukuza, but the Sibiyas insisted on Gingindlovu, where the deceased's husband, who died in 2021, is buried. The couple also had a house in Gingindlovu but spent most of the time in Lindelani, where Sebenzile was a PR councillor.

According to a Sibiya relative who spoke on condition of anonymity, they overlooked the dispute on May 17, a day after the PR councillor died, when they discovered the Mthembu family occupying the Lindelani property.

The relative said things got a little heated when the Mthembu family said the funeral service will be held in Lindelani and the burial will be in Gingindlovu.

"The brother of her late husband, who was handling the Sibiya estate, was irritated by that. He said the deceased was a married woman and the Mthembu family shouldn't be at the forefront of the funeral arrangements. He stood up and left after it was clear that they were not reaching any agreement with the Mthembus," said the relative.

The relative said one of the Sibiya family members told the Mthembus that if they wanted her to be buried in Lindelani, they should have asked and not dictated to them.

"They ended up saying they are putting in a request to the late husband's brother for her to be buried in Lindelani. The reply was that they will get feedback once the Sibiya family has sat down for a meeting to discuss their request."

After the Sibiya meeting, it is alleged that the family agreed that her funeral service would take place in Lindelani and she would be buried in Gingindlovu, next to her husband.

Gunmen burst in and said they were sent by the Mthembus to tell the Sibiyas that the funeral and burial would be in Lindelani.

Then on May 22, the Sibiyas approached the Durban High Court to seek an interdict against the Mthembus and the funeral parlour, barring them from proceeding with the funeral. The funeral parlour was served with the interdict on the following day, as well as the Mthembus, who refused to sign the court order.

The Mthembus continued with their sham funeral in the presence of the police, who ensured that the funeral parlour didn't release the corpse per court order. Last Thursday the Durban High Court ruled in favour of the Sibiyas.

"We are just relieved that we will now proceed with funeral preparations and bury her in a dignified manner," said a Sibiya family member.

The Sibiyas said they don't believe the Mthembus would attend the funeral service on Saturday, as they had already had theirs on May 24.

Numerous attempts to get comment from the Mthembu family via texts and calls were unsuccessful, as the phone of the brother of the deceased rang unanswered.

SUNDAY TRIBUNE