By Nhlalwenhle Ncube
The funeral gathering for a Gwanda couple suspected to have been among the 30 people that perished at the West Nicholson bus accident has been turned into a war zone as two families fight over a trunk known to have cash in most instances and a newly built house’s keys.
The couple Melusi Nyoni and Thenjiwe Sibanda were loan sharks.
Unfortunately when the two families got to the couple’s homestead, they found the cash trunk empty resulting in an exchange of harsh words.
Following threats from some of Sibanda family members, Nyoni’s parents decided to boycott the funeral gathering.
When B-Metro news crew visited the two families at Makwe Village, they found Nyoni’s parents relaxing at their homestead busy with their daily chores.
At the couple’s homestead, only Sibanda’s relatives were gathered.
“My son and his wife have been staying together for more than 10 years. On the day we got sad news, we travelled to Vhumbachikwe to tell her father, but upon arrival we were told that he had vowed to axe us to death.
“Fearing for our lives we travelled back to Makwe, but upon arrival we were shocked that our daughter-in-law’s mother had taken the house keys and opened the house.
“When we got to my son’s matrimonial home, our daughter-in-law’s brother started shouting at us and threatened to axe us again. Realising we were not welcome at the funeral gathering, we returned home and reported the matter to headman Sicelo Sibanda,” narrated Nyoni’s mother Elizabeth Nyoni.
On the other hand, Sibanda’s relatives revealed that the main cause of the misunderstanding is the cash trunk and house keys.
“It is so sad that in this whole terrible incident, some people are only worried about money and this newly built house. What if the two did not die since we are still waiting for confirmation.
“Sibanda’s father indeed threatened to axe the Nyoni family members saying they were disrespectful as they lived with his daughter for 10 years without formalising the relationship.
“We never chased them away, but they just left after we refused to give them house keys as they insisted they needed a cash box which was inside,” said Sibanda’s aunt Christine Maphosa.
It also came out that the couple had taken all the money from the cash box as they had travelled to buy property for their newly built house.
“Headman Sibanda called for a meeting and we were ordered to give our in-laws the house keys. We gave them and unfortunately there was no money in the trunk,” said Regina Maphosa.
She further revealed that she was only worried about her two grandchildren and had no interest in the cash trunk or house.
The fatal accident of the Brooklyn bus in West Nicholson and bodies were burnt beyond recognition that it required the services of genetic testing for positive identification. The Applied Genetic Testing Center at Nust has so far positively identified 22 bodies out of the 30 remains and 18 body parts.
It has been reported that the process is likely to be concluded by Friday. B-Metro.
