By Celani Sikhakhane
- The Nkonyane family got a Pietermaritzburg High Court interdict stopping the burial after the bishop’s legal wife was left out of funeral plans.
- KwaZulu-Natal police confirmed they are investigating a fraud case against Priscilla Sizeni Mazibuko and Icebolethu Funeral Group.
When the coffin of Bishop Thamsanqa Nkonyane was opened at a mortuary in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, his family and the police standing with them found building bricks. There was no body.
The discovery came after the Nkonyane family obtained an urgent interdict from the Pietermaritzburg High Court on 6 June, stopping the burial from going ahead. The order was brought by Dolly Nkonyane, the bishop’s legal wife, who has been married to him in community of property since 1988 and was never divorced from him.
A second woman, Priscilla Sizeni Mazibuko, known as MaKhuzwayo, had been living with Nkonyane in eThekwini at the time of his death. She had made the funeral arrangements without involving either the family or Dolly Nkonyane.
Police enforced the court order at the funeral service. The coffin was returned to the mortuary, where it was opened in front of officers and the family. That was when the bricks were found.
KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda confirmed that a fraud case is now under investigation. The Nkonyane family has opened the case against Mazibuko and Icebolethu Funeral Group.
Icebolethu has not explained how the coffin left its care without the bishop’s body inside. Scrolla asked the company’s spokesperson, Nkosenhle Hlophe, for a response on Tuesday. He said a statement was coming in two minutes. It had not arrived by the time of publication.
At the funeral service, before the interdict was enforced, a will was read in which Bishop Nkonyane stated that only his wife and their daughter should be present. He said no one claiming to be a child or wife should come near the funeral.
The whereabouts of Bishop Nkonyane’s body have not been confirmed.
Pictured above: Bishop Thamsanqa Nkonyane of the Christian Catholic Apostolic Holy Spirit Church in Zion, Inyoni Emhlophe, Newcastle, whose funeral was halted after building bricks were found inside his coffin.
Image source:Facebook
