The Sunday News
Sithatshisiwe Vuma, Sunday News Reporter
A local company, Kingdom Blue Funeral Parlour has assisted a Nyamandlovu family with the burial of Ms Maggie Ndlovu of Redbank Farm, who was allegedly killed by her husband who went on to dump her body in a 100 metre-deep manhole two weeks ago.
The 21-year-old woman was allegedly fatally assaulted by her husband, Clifford Lameck Phiri, who in a bid to conceal the crime dumped her body at Redbank Farm where the family is based. She was buried yesterday following the intervention of Kingdom Blue Funeral Parlour.
Her body had been lying at the United Bulawayo Hospitals mortuary with her family struggling to raise enough money for the burial costs. The woman’s father, Mr Mthokozisi Ndovu, said on 29 August his daughter left home together with her 10-year-old brother in the morning to buy sugar from a store which is about five kilometres away from home.
Around 2pm her husband returned from work at a nearby farm and found her not at home. He asked his grandmother where she was and was told that she had gone to the shops. “He quickly followed her to the shops. On the way he bought alcohol and with his friend they found his wife at the shops. He then started beating her up and also assaulted her 10-year-old brotherThe assault was extremely severe, with injuries visible. Villagers were scared to stop the beating. He then dragged his wife back home, and later in the day he discovered that she had died from the injuries. He then carried the body and dumped it in the bush. He acted normal and lied that his wife had gone away with boyfriends.
He left for work the following day and that is when we reported to the police that she was missing. The body was discovered in the bush and the report was made to the police,” said Mr Nldovu.
He said they were grateful to the support from the funeral parlour. “As a family we were stranded as we did not have money to bury her. But we are happy that Kingdom Blue offered to bury her for free. Her body has been in the mortuary all along,” he said.
Police confirmed the death the incident and said investigations were underway. The suspect has since left the area. Blue Kingdom sales and marketing manager Mr Mbongiseni Ncube said they decided to assist the family as part of their corporate social responsibility.
“Kingdom Blue is made up of everyday people, that understand the feeling of caring or losing a loved one, hence the commitment to partake in this call to assist the family with a funeral service after the tragedy. Our mission is to unite people, provide them with financial freedom and help bereaved families to cope with their loss hence such isolated incidents made us look into our values of integrity/ubuntu hence our engagement,” said Mr Ncube.
