The body of a young Fort Hare University student, who was killed while crossing the busy N2 road near his home in Maqanyeni in Sibangweni outside Mthatha last year, has become the subject of a bitter tug-of-war between the victim’s mother and her former in-laws.
The feud over who should bury the victim has now reached the courts, after the victim’s mother instituted legal proceedings against her former father-in-law and the child’s grandfather.
Nolwandle Nontswabu, 37, divorced her husband and father of her four children in 2018.
She was reportedly given custody of the children and their marital home in the village.
Sandile Nontswabu, 19, a first-year law student was hit and killed by a car on November 26.
However, Nolwandle told the Dispatch she had not been able to bury him as his father’s family refused to hand over the body.
Nolwandle and her family have now opened a case against their in-laws.
The case will reportedly be heard in the Mthatha high court on February 9, she said.
“All I want is my son’s body so I can give him a dignified funeral.
“I raised him [Sandile] since he was 10. I put him through school and they [in-laws] never did anything for him.
“Now they are trying to punish me by refusing to hand over his corpse so I can bury my child in peace.”
She said her son had left home on November 26 but failed to return.
At first, she was not alarmed as boys tend to stay out over weekends.
But she became worried when after two days when he failed to return home.
She opened a missing person’s case in Libode, while her brother searched for him at the Mthatha General Hospital.
They later heard from her son’s friends that he was last seen going to a tavern on the other side of the village.
The N2 route cuts through the village. She said it was only five days later that they found out from her ex-in-laws that the child was dead and had been taken to a state mortuary in Mthatha.
She claimed the in-laws had signed for the body to be released to a private mortuary.
However, when she wanted her son’s body to bury him at his own home, the in-laws refused.
“After the divorce, I got the house that me and my husband built.
“I want to bury my son there at his home, but the in-laws, my ex-husband’s father and Sandile’s grandfather now refuse.
“Yet these people never did anything for him. They are just using my son to punish me for leaving their son.”
Nolwandle’s lawyer Msa Mnqayana confirmed they had successfully applied for an interdict in the Mthatha high court to prevent the burial in December.
The grandfather Thandinkosi Nontswabu accused the Dispatch of siding with his former daughter-in-law.
He dared the Dispatch to publish the story saying he would deal with it.
“Go to to her and the family and publish whatever you want to publish. She can also do whatever she wants,” he said.
He said his family had prepared a grave for her grandson who was to be buried on December 11.
This after the boy’s father raised concerns that Sandile’s body would be buried at their marital home, when even his ex-wife no longer lived there.
The father wanted someone who would look after the grave and he had agreed to have him buried at their home.
“We prepared a grave which is now lying open and she [ex-daughter-in-law], instead of engaging with us ran to the courts.
“Now my grandson’s body is lying on ice instead of being buried.”
He also disputed the former daughter-in-law’s version that she had been awarded the children after the divorce, saying she and her family members had asked the children to spend Christmas at their paternal home and she had never brought them back.
His family continued to look after the children. Even Sandile was able to get into Fort Hare University because one of his [Thandinkosi] sons helped him find a school.”
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