The SABC 2 soapie Muvhango came to life at Tshitomboni outside Thohoyandou.

At the centre of the tale is a man whose body has been lying in a mortuary for the past three weeks. His two former wives and his current wife, who was living with him at the time of his death, are in a tug-of-war over who is to bury him.

Mr Phineas Mudzunga (53), who worked for the Limpopo Department of Roads and Transport, died three weeks ago and was supposed to have been buried a weekend after his death. At the time of his death, he was staying with Vho Makhadzi Vho Johanna Mpondi.

After his death, Mpondi started with funeral arrangements, but the funeral was stopped a day before the ceremony by the two other wives, who claimed that they were entitled to bury him as his only lawful wives. An empty grave with a tombstone at a nearby gravesite is the only reminder of the funeral that was halted.

Last Wednesday, the first two wives, who had vowed that Mpondi would not bury him, started with preparations to bury Mudzunga. A new grave was dug as they said they could not use the one prepared by the new wife. The providing of food and other preparations had reached the final stages when, late on Friday, Mpondi also sought the help of the courts to stop them from burying the man she loved.

The matter was also referred to the local traditional leader, Chief Zwidofhelangani Mmbubana, who tried to solve the matter in an amicable way, but with no success.

It is alleged that Mudzunga and Mpondi had been staying together as husband and wife for the past 16 years. "My husband fell sick a month-and-a-half ago and I thought he would pull through, but he passed away. Before he died we agreed that if he died first, I should be the one to bury him and if I were to die first, he promised to bury me,” Mpondi said. “I will stick to this promise and I am prepared to fight tooth and nail to have the right to fulfil his death wish. If needs be, I am prepared to go to the highest courts to bury him," she added.

She said when he fell ill, she notified his family, who told her to her face that they did not have anything to do with it. "Even when he died, I did the same, but family members told me that I had to see what to do to bury him," said Mpondi. She said she started with preparations for the funeral and everything went well until Friday, when they were served with papers stopping the funeral.

"I wanted to know who was behind the stoppage, only to be told that it was the former wives. This surprised me, as these people did not care for him. I stayed with this man for 16 years as husband and wife, and I am shocked to learn of people who want to bury him after so many years," she said.

Mpondi said she had lost a great deal in preparing the grave, for which a gravestone was erected and food prepared for the mourners. She said even the colleagues of the deceased, who came all the way from as far as Tzaneen, where he once worked, left very disappointed after the funeral was stopped.

The deceased’s second-born son, Mmbangiseni Mudzunga, is adamant they will finally have the chance to bury their late father. In an interview at the local graveyard where they were busy preparing a new grave, Mmbangiseni blamed the new wife for the death of his father. "If we had known earlier, we would have done something as a family to save his life, but now he is gone because of her," he said.

He said he had hope that justice would prevail and they would have the chance to bury their father. "We have every right to bury him and no one will stop us from doing that. We are his children and we will not allow strangers to bury our father. What this woman is doing is an insult to our father. His soul will not rest in peace," he said.

Mirror saw the new grave being prepared next to the one prepared by the new wife.

Chief Mmbubana said he had called the two families together but nothing positive came out of the meeting. "I am very disappointed that the issue went this far. They should have reasoned together and found an amicable solution that would be a better option for the two families and for the sake of the dead man, but they opted for the courts instead.”

A resident in the village, who preferred anonymity, said she was shocked by the incident. "We always saw similar things in the soapies on TV and we never thought it could happen in real life. What is happening is disturbing, a shock and a disgrace. Just imagine people fighting about a dead person. Why don’t they just sit down, the three of them, and think of a better way to lay the husband to rest," she said.

At the time of going to press, the dead man has not been buried and the two families were still waiting for the outcome of the court's deliberations.