TWO of the three Zimbabweans who died in Nigeria after a Synagogue of all Nations Church (Scoan) building collapsed on September 12 killing 116, have been buried in Bulawayo. BENSON DUBE OWN CORRESPONDENT
Catherine Ndlovu, who was in previous publications mistakenly identified as Sisasenkosi Ngwenya, and Jane Sibanda had their remains repatriated on Friday.
The bodies were flown via Harare to Bulawayo by aircraft.
Sibanda was buried on Saturday and Ndlovu was put to rest yesterday at West Park Cemetery.
Scoan assisted with funeral expenses, including food for mourners.
A church service was held for Ndlovu at Kings and Queens Funeral parlour.
The body was not taken to her home due to unclear reasons.
Only close relatives paid their last respects, as the body had stayed for more than two months before burial.
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Pallbearers wore plastic gloves as they carried the casket to the hearse and did the same when they lifted it from the hearse into the grave.
Collen Sithole, a neighbour, said Ndlovu’s remains came by air via Harare to Bulawayo on Friday, with Scoan covering the costs.
“Scoan did a great job, they bought food and transported the deceased from South Africa,” he said.
“It is unfortunate that the Scoan representative in Bulawayo (name supplied) did not attend the funeral.”
A brother to the deceased, only identified as K Ndlovu, said they were relieved to have buried their relative.
“Scoan did assist towards the burial of my sister and we are not complaining, we are relieved that we have finally laid her to rest,” he said.
“We had been reading a lot of lies about my sister in the papers. You people write unconfirmed things.”
Jane Sibanda (neé Hwature) of Entumbane and Ndlovu of Mpopoma, as well as MDC-T Mashonaland West chairperson, Greenwich Ndanga, were among the 116 people that died when a guest house at the church headed by renowned Nigerian self-styled prophet, Temitope Balogun “TB” Joshua, collapsed.
The bodies of the three Zimbabweans were among the 74 remains that were repatriated to South Africa recently after a two-month delay due to painstakingly slow DNA identification by Nigerian authorities.
Zimbabwean victims are reported to have travelled on South African documents, making their repatriation even more complicated.
The Zimbabwean Foreign Affairs ministry had all along maintained that only one Zimbabwean, Ndanga, had died in the building collapse.
