Mourners gathered at two different locations following a dispute over the funeral of the founding father of the Zimbabwe National Soccer Supporters Association, Eddie “Mboma” Nyatanga in Harare on Friday, reported H-Metro.
Nyatanga (63) died in Harare on Tuesday at home in Borrowdale Brooke of a suspected heart attack.
Some mourners gathered in Borrowdale Brooke, the home he shared with his wife, Angeline, while others gathered in Mount Pleasant, the house he shared with his first wife, Virginia after the family failed to agree on where the funeral was to be held.
Speaking to Zimpapers Sport, Nyatanga’s son, Bruce, said mourners were gathered in Mt Pleasant and the body was set to be taken to Borrowdale Brooke on Friday night, then to Mt Pleasant on Saturday before burial at Glen Forest on Sunday (yesterday).
However, the disagreements did not end there but were manifested at Glenforest Memorial Park, after two graves were prepared for Nyatanga’s final resting place following another dispute.
According to H-Metro, the grave, which had initially been prepared for his burial, was not where he was eventually buried. Said a source:
The initial burial arrangements, which included the first grave which was prepared, had been made by his second wife and were cancelled in the wake of the events at the Nyaradzo parlour on Saturday.
Mboma’s second wife wanted his body to lie in state at her house in Borrowdale Brooke and was not happy that the body was taken to his first wife’s house in Mount Pleasant after it was collected from Nyaradzo on Saturday.
She cancelled the arrangements which she had made for the burial and his family in Mount Pleasant had to make fresh arrangements today (yesterday) on the day he was going to be buried.
That is why the burial time was changed from 2 pm to 3 pm.
It has also emerged that a funeral service for the late Nyatanga at Nyaradzo funeral parlour in Harare on Saturday, which was supposed to start at 1 PM, only started after 5.30 PM. Said a source:
Two pairs of suits were brought for him and this caused some problems for the Nyaradzo staff.
So, we had a scenario in which the mourners gathered in the chapel, just after 3 pm, and started singing but the casket bearing the body was not brought into the chapel because of these disputes.
After about 45 minutes or so, the mourners realised that something was wrong and they moved out of the chapel.
Stories started flying around that the body had already been taken but this was proved not to be true.
Emotions were exploding and some of Mboma’s friends even confronted the Nyaradzo staff demanding that they wanted to take their colleague’s body to his home in Mount Pleasant.
Phone calls were flying around and, in the end, some of his relatives were asked by the mourners to go into the parlour to confirm whether his body was still there.
When they confirmed, it settled the crowd and in the evening the casket was brought into the chapel.
Body viewing was done and the body was eventually taken to his home in Mount Pleasant.
Mboma’s children, especially the older boys, had really become angry with how their father’s funeral was being disrupted by all these disputes and things were getting really tense.
Former PSL chairman, Twine Phiri, and former ZIFA president, Vincent Pamire, were among the mourners at Nyatanga’s burial.
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