Court battle ends as bishop gets proper funeral

By Celani Sikhakhane

• Bishop Elijah Nkonyane was reburied almost three months after his death following a legal fight between his wife and girlfriend over who had the right to bury him.

• The bishop’s first funeral ended in chaos after police discovered his body was missing from the coffin and was later found buried in a shallow grave behind his church.

Nearly three months after his death, Bishop Thami Elijah Nkonyane has finally received the funeral his family says he deserved.

The leader of the eNyonini Emhlophe Zion Church in Osizweni, near Newcastle, was reburied on Saturday after one of South Africa’s most shocking funeral disputes.

His death in May sparked a bitter legal battle between his wife of more than 35 years, Dolly maNgcobo Nkonyane, and his girlfriend, Priscilla Sizeni Mazibuko, who is also known as MaKhuzwayo.

The dispute made national headlines after mourners discovered that the bishop’s coffin did not contain his body.

Instead, it had been filled with building bricks.

Police stopped the funeral after the bishop’s family arrived with a court order preventing the burial.

Investigators later found Nkonyane’s body buried in a shallow grave behind the church.

Family members said the body had injuries to the head.

According to reports presented in court, local men were allegedly paid R250 and given a crate of beer to dig the grave before the funeral.

The Pietermaritzburg High Court later ordered that the bishop’s body be exhumed.

MaKhuzwayo later returned to court in an attempt to stop a second funeral, but her application was dismissed.

That cleared the way for Saturday’s reburial.

Hundreds of mourners gathered at the church before the funeral procession moved to the Osizweni cemetery, where the bishop was finally buried.

His sister, Sibingile Nkonyane, told mourners the family could now begin to heal.

“I am glad that my brother is finally receiving the burial he deserved,” she said.

She recalled how her brother often joked with his family after their mother’s death.

“He used to say it had been a long time since there had been a funeral in our family and wondered who would be next,” she said.

His wife, Dolly maNgcobo Nkonyane, was applauded by mourners for fighting through months of court battles to ensure her husband received what they described as a dignified burial.

Many praised her determination to have the bishop’s body exhumed after learning he had secretly been buried behind the church.

The extraordinary case has drawn national attention because of its unusual twists, including the missing body, the coffin filled with bricks, the secret burial and the lengthy court fight over burial rights.

For Nkonyane’s family, however, the legal battle is finally over.

After months of heartbreak, court appearances and public controversy, they say they can now mourn their loved one in peace.

Pictured above: Bishop Thami Elijah Nkonyane was finally laid to rest after a court battle and the discovery that his first funeral coffin contained bricks instead of his body.

Image source: eNyonini Emhlophe Facebook