Matatiele: The community of Nkanga, Willowvale is still recovering from the traumatic incident they witnessed as funeral preparations were put to a halt and the corpse taken back to a morgue. The gravesite where the body of the late Zintle Zikhona Tsutsu was supposed to be buried was left open after a will statement emerged from her lawyers at the eleventh hour.
The drama started a day before Zintle’s funeral service as initially prepared by the family. The Tsutsu family received news that the deceased left a will. In her will, she stated that she does not want to be buried next to her father and siblings in Nkanga, but rather cremated and her ashes scattered at Cape Point, Western Cape Province. “It is my wish that my mortal remains shall be cremated and my ashes scattered at Cape Point by my mother Nomalungelo Tsutsu and my daughter Ogiyonke Tongo Tsutsu, Nqwenelwa Poswa, Thoba Tsutsu and Nomfuneko Tsutsu. It is my further wish that my funeral arrangements proceed from my property in Emfuleni,” read lawyer. The will was drafted on 05 June 2017. This happens despite her grave having already been dug by Nkanga community men.
According to eyewitnesses, the body of Zintle arrived, only family members were allowed to view it, shortly before it was returned back to the morgue “I have never seen this in my life but it is an experience because we are living in a changing world”, said Nonkonzo Masoka who there.
Meanwhile, the elder brother of the deceased, Phindile Tsutsu expressed his discontent over the incident. “I think they were supposed to communicate the issue of the will earlier because we spent so much money on preparing the grave. We have no choice but to destroy the grave because nobody is going to be buried there. But it is really a waste, just imagine the money we spent and we have to pay the builder even though there is no corpse in the grave,” concluded Tsutsu.
According to family, Zintle was gunned down at her home in Emfuleni, Cape Town on February 18. And the family started the funeral arrangements back at home.
