A Sweetwaters, KZN, mother is heartbroken after discovering that her 20-year-old son, Thembelani Zondi, was secretly buried the night before his planned funeral — despite a court order stopping the burial.

The Witness reports that Bathobile Hlela and her son’s father, Thubelihle Zondi, had initially agreed that Thembelani would be laid to rest at the Hlela family homestead, as the parents were not married.

However, tensions erupted when Hlela claimed that the burial arrangements were changed without her consent.

According to Hlela, Thembelani died a week ago, and both families had prepared to bury him on October 12.

“I had agreed with my son’s father that, since we were never married and culturally the child was not recognised as a Zondi, Thembelani would be buried at the Hlela homestead. We made the arrangements together.

“It was only when we got to the mortuary that he refused to release the body to come to my home and instead took him to the Zondi homestead.”

Following the incident, Hlela urgently approached the Pietermaritzburg High Court for an interdict preventing the Zondi family from proceeding with the burial.

The court ruled in her favour, ordering: “Sibiya Funeral Services is hereby directed to return the remains of the late Thembelani and hold same at its mortuary until the finalisation of this matter. It is declared that the applicant (Hlela) has the right to bury the mortal remains of the late Thembelani. Sibiya Funeral Services is hereby directed to release the mortal remains of the late Thembelani to Hlela.”

On Sunday morning, with The Witness present, Hlela, accompanied by police, went to the Zondi homestead to serve the court order.

To her shock, she was informed that Thembelani had already been buried the previous night, without her knowledge or consent.

“I was shattered. I just wanted to give my child the proper send-off he deserved.”

She has since filed an application for her son’s body to be exhumed and returned to the mortuary until the dispute is resolved.

Despite the interdict, the Zondi family went ahead with the funeral service on Sunday, but without the body.

Mzamo Zondi, spokesperson for Inkosi yaKwaMpumuza Khethokuhle Zondi, confirmed the burial took place in secret, saying the situation had become tense as three families were fighting over the body.

“Thembelani was the caretaker of the inkosi, and as ‘umntwana’ (a prince), the inkosi took it upon himself to bury him,” he said. Thembelani was also the grandson of the inkosi.

He said that although there had been an agreement for Thembelani to be buried at the Hlela homestead, with the Zondi family managing the service, the situation changed when another family, the Memelas, also laid claim to the body.

“The Memela family, which is Hlela’s father’s side of the family, became involved. When it became clear that the dispute wasn’t being resolved, the inkosi made the final decision to bury him quietly because of the nature of his death, which is suspected to be suicide,” said Zondi.

Hlela described her son as a kind and devoted young man who always put others first.

He loved his family and helped everyone around him. Losing him this way has been unbearable.

Thembelani’s father, Thubelihle, told The Witness that he was heartbroken about the death of his son.

He said Thembelani had recently taken over his duties of caring for the inkosi and had become ‘the pillar of the family’.

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