Teacher’s sister wants brother-in-law stopped from burying her

MBABANE – A sister of a teacher who died wants the +igh Court to stop her brother in law from burying her.

/ungile Masina (born Mngometulu) also applied for an order to stop S1AT %urial Services from releasing the body of 9irginia )ashion .ho]a (born Mn gometulu) pending finalisation of the matter. Masina further prayed for an order reviewing, correcting and setting aside an order of the Man]ini Magis trates Court, allowing her brother in law, Robert 9utsela .ho]a, to bury the late 9irginia at /omahasha.

,n her application, Masina told the court that Robert and 9irginia had been living separately for the past years. She said her sister had not been to Robert’s paren tal homestead in /omahasha since 2 . Masina said this was a sign that 9irginia wanted nothing to do with Robert.

CUSTOM

She informed the court that 9irginia and Robert were married in terms of (s watini /aw and Custom and established their marital home at .waluseni.

Robert, according to Masina, wants 9irginia to be buried at his parental home.

+owever, Masina said her sister had on numerous occasions informed her, her children and members of her family that in the event she died, she wanted to be buried at .waluseni as opposed to /o mahasha.

“, wish to state that the deceased repeat edly made known to me that she wished to be buried by the .ho]a family at /o mahasha or under their hand because of the humiliation and suffering she was subjected to by the first respondent (Rob ert).

“,t was the deceased’s desire that hav ing been freed from the first respondent’s constant abuse during her lifetime, she did not want to be taken to /omahasha upon her death when she could no longer speak for herself,´ said Masina.

The veracity of these allegations is yet to be tested and the respondents are still to file their answering papers. The appli cants are represented by Thabo +lan]e of T9 +lan]e Attorneys.

BURIED

Masina further informed the court that 9irginia made it clear that she wished to be buried among her neighbours at .waluseni and not at a place where she endured abuse. She pointed out that de spite being married to Robert, he was allegedly not present in the past years.

Masina submitted that 9irginia’s in laws allegedly never assisted her when ever she reported the µdegrading and cruel treatment’ she received from her husband.

She alleged that Robert’s family never pursued or followed customary proce dures when the two separated. Masina said her sister remained at her marital home to raise her children and ensured that their welfare was taken care of.

She alleged that even when she fell sick, Robert allegedly distanced himself, µnotwithstanding the fact that he had the resources to assist my sister’.

9irginia died on August 25, 2 22. Masina said she informed Robert about her death out of respect because the two were married.

She told the court that since 9irginia was a contributing member of S1AT %urial Services, her body was transferred to their mortuary. She said she was in formed by the secretary of the burial ser vices that her sister had nominated her to authorise the release of funds to purchase the coffin and incidental costs.

Masina said she was reTuested to sug gest the burial site and she told them that her sister would be buried at the .waluseni Cemetery. She said she also informed Robert that her sister had nom inated her to facilitate the release of the burial funds.

PREPARATIONS

“, reported my sister’s death to the reg ister of %irths Marriages and Deaths and same was issued on August 3 , 2 22. , had to stay at the deceased’s home so that , could be able to assist the children and the first respondent during the prepara tions of the burial of my sister,´ Masina added.

She alleged that Robert isolated himself and did not want to participate in the pro cess. As the elder sister to the deceased, said Masina, she attended to the people from the area who had come to mourn. She alleged that this might have offended

Robert, who decided to leave.

According to Masina, on September 22, 2 22, while she and the children of the deceased were attending to the mourners, police officers arrived and served her with a court order and they demanded that she complied with it.

She said she was ordered to hand over receipts that had been issued by the mortuary and other documents, which included the marriage and death certifi cates.

Masina stated that she enTuired as to why she was reTuired to hand over the documents to the police since Robert never asked for them from her.

HUMILIATED

“The police insisted that if , refused, , would be found to be in contempt of court. , was also directed to vacate the premises. , was humiliated in full view of residents from the community, who were also taken aback by the conduct of the police.´

The order, according to Masina, was in terms of the Sexual Offences and Do mestic 9iolence (SOD9) Act and she said this made her wonder because there had not been any violence. She said the order reTuired her and the children to appear in court on September , 2 22 to state why the order should not be made final.

The order, according to Masina, di rected that they should be served with summons as well but that allegedly did not happen. She said in court, the mag

istrate told them that the proceedings would be in the form of a peace binding.

Masina submitted that she raised con cerns at the manner the proceedings were handled but the magistrate insisted that she should show cause why the order should not be made final.

She said upon hearing her submissions, the magistrate directed her and Robert to facilitate a meeting of both families to deliberate on the burial of the deceased and return to court on September , 2 22.

The meeting did not materialise and Masina said she explained to the magis trate that there was no will on Robert’s part to convene the meeting.

The magistrate, according to Masina, proceeded to allow Robert to bury the deceased as he deemed fit. Masina said she advised the court that she would not sign any documents from the S1AT %ur ial Services authorising the release of funds for the burial in view of Robert’s conduct.

DEMANDING

Masina said Robert became furious and started threatening to assault his and the deceased’s son, 1hlakanipho, who is the second applicant.

1hlakanipho, according to Masina, knowing that his father sometimes car ried a knife, hid it from him and he (Rob ert) allegedly chased him around the yard demanding that he handed it to him.

1hlakanipho’s sister, Thobile, is said to have captured the incident on video and Masina said the court could play it. Masina said she took the children with her to )airview for safety reasons. The matter was yesterday removed from the roll.