Murdered girl’s family demands 60 cattle

THE family of the late Sanele Ndlovu who was allegedly murdered by her boyfriend Tendai Gondo in a domestic dispute is demanding 60 cattle or US$48 000 from the Gondo family as compensation before the burial of their daughter.

Miss Ndlovu passed away in September, with Tendai initially saying it was after a hit and run accident, but police investigations later revealed that he allegedly ran her over with a Hino truck during a domestic dispute.

Tendai is out on bail for the alleged murder of his girlfriend while Ndlovu’s body is still at United Bulawayo Hospitals mortuary, with the two families clashing over burial arrangements.

In the latest developments, the two families met at the Ndlovu homestead in Plumtree last week, where the Ndlovu family reportedly demanded 60 cattle as compensation before the burial of their daughter. In an interview the father of the deceased, Mr Bernard Ndlovu confirmed their demands.

“As the Ndlovu family we sat down and agreed that they should pay us a total of 60 cattle. The compensation can be broken down into parts such as taking our child and staying with her without our consent, killing the child in the manner they did, all the travelling costs and even the disrespect they continue to give us.

“So, the Gondos are going to give us 60 cattle. In monetary terms we said one beast costs US$800 which in total is US$48 000. That is all what we demand so that all the pain and suffering can be cleansed. On top of that they will carry out the burial and all its preparations and we won’t be part of the burial. My children came all the way from London and others from South Africa and from all over so the costs of travelling add up to US$7 727,” said Mr Ndlovu.

He said they have also demanded that Ndlovu’s body be moved to a private mortuary as they process the payments.

“For now, we cannot carry on and make burial arrangements because if we do so they will not pay us and there will be nothing for us to talk about as they are not our lawful in-laws, so they have to pay up first, then we can talk about burial,” said Mr Ndlovu.

Last month, the Ndlovu family travelled from Plumtree to the Gondo family house along Chaplin Road in Kumalo suburb where they attempted to engage the family to help facilitate Ndlovu’s burial, with no joy.

They eventually held a memorial service at the Gondo family house. Efforts to get a comment from the Gondo family were fruitless.