Mutare’s Dangamvura Cemetery was last week turned into a strip tease show venue as hundreds of mourners who thronged the place to pay their last respects to a well-known vagabond from the neighbourhood engaged in unbelievable sexually explicit innuendos – both spoken and deed – that left those of straight moral fabric weak-kneed.
Well known sex workers, thieves, alcoholics and drug addicts stole the show, temporarily bringing funeral proceedings to a standstill as they outwitted each other exhibiting weird behaviour.
While the scantily dressed sex workers danced suggestively shaking their booties over the deceased’s coffin, hobos shouted unprintable obscenities all in the name of imitating what
The late Joseph, whose relatives were unknown, was only buried last Wednesday after officials from the consulate came forward to assist as his body had gone for more than a month lying at Mutare Provincial Hospital mortuary without anyone claiming the corpse.
He was a darling of many in the neighbourhood despite his unstable mental state.
News of his death shocked many after he was found dead in the toilet with bruises all over his body.
Word quickly spread that he was murdered, but no leads were found.
The drama started at the Area 14 public toilet in the morning when the funeral procession stopped over and mourners took the coffin into the filthy lavatory in a custom practice that is meant to make the deceased person have a feel of his home before burial.
In no time, hundreds of people came out of their houses in the neighbourhood to watch the drama that unfolded at the toilet.
Those with cars hooted their horns and, in an instant, the neighbourhood broke into song and dance.
A mourner tries to control the rowdy crowd
More drama followed at the graveside.
At the cemetery, no well known burial procedures were followed as it turned into a free-for-all situation.
Officials from the Mozambican Consulate were not given time to speak as the rowdy mourners interjected each time they tried to utter a word.
The same happened to a pastor who wanted to say out a graveside prayer.
As the pastor tried to read the scriptures, the uncontrollable mourners shouted obscenities in his face.
The situation temporarily calmed after Ward Nine councilor Crispen Dube begged the mourners to calm down and allow the pastor to lead the prayers.
However, more drama followed as the mourners quarreled when lowering down the coffin into the grave.
After burial, the mourners demanded food. They were asking where they were going to have lunch as the deceased used to stay in a toilet. Some pressured the councillor to provide food for the mourners.
The weird burial went viral on social media and became the talk of the suburb.
In June 2011, four people were arrested by the police after they caused a stir after dancing naked in the full glare of mourners at a funeral at the same cemetery.
Barely a week then, 15 other people were rounded up by the police after trying to repeat the same following the death of a prostitute in the same suburb. They faced criminal nuisance charges and were all fined.
Over the years, funerals in the high-density suburb have degenerated into platforms of nudity in which mourners indulge in all sorts of misdemeanor.
While the scantily dressed sex workers danced suggestively shaking their booties over the deceased’s coffin, hobos shouted unprintable obscenities all in the name of imitating what
Officials from the Mozambican Consulate in Mutare who had come to bury their fellow national were left speechless as they could not believe what was happening before their eyes.
The late Joseph, whose relatives were unknown, was only buried last Wednesday after officials from the consulate came forward to assist as his body had gone for more than a month lying at Mutare Provincial Hospital mortuary without anyone claiming the corpse.
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| Graveside nudity show |
The homeless vagabond stayed in a public toilet near Chikomo Tarven in Dangamvura’s Area 14 Section.
He was a darling of many in the neighbourhood despite his unstable mental state.
News of his death shocked many after he was found dead in the toilet with bruises all over his body.
Word quickly spread that he was murdered, but no leads were found.
The drama started at the Area 14 public toilet in the morning when the funeral procession stopped over and mourners took the coffin into the filthy lavatory in a custom practice that is meant to make the deceased person have a feel of his home before burial.
In no time, hundreds of people came out of their houses in the neighbourhood to watch the drama that unfolded at the toilet.
Those with cars hooted their horns and, in an instant, the neighbourhood broke into song and dance.
A mourner tries to control the rowdy crowdMore drama followed at the graveside.
At the cemetery, no well known burial procedures were followed as it turned into a free-for-all situation.
Officials from the Mozambican Consulate were not given time to speak as the rowdy mourners interjected each time they tried to utter a word.
The same happened to a pastor who wanted to say out a graveside prayer.
As the pastor tried to read the scriptures, the uncontrollable mourners shouted obscenities in his face.
The situation temporarily calmed after Ward Nine councilor Crispen Dube begged the mourners to calm down and allow the pastor to lead the prayers.
However, more drama followed as the mourners quarreled when lowering down the coffin into the grave.
After burial, the mourners demanded food. They were asking where they were going to have lunch as the deceased used to stay in a toilet. Some pressured the councillor to provide food for the mourners.
The weird burial went viral on social media and became the talk of the suburb.
In June 2011, four people were arrested by the police after they caused a stir after dancing naked in the full glare of mourners at a funeral at the same cemetery.
Barely a week then, 15 other people were rounded up by the police after trying to repeat the same following the death of a prostitute in the same suburb. They faced criminal nuisance charges and were all fined.
Over the years, funerals in the high-density suburb have degenerated into platforms of nudity in which mourners indulge in all sorts of misdemeanor.
