For a whole month his body had been lying in a cold mortuary fridge as his three wives fought over who was entitled to bury him.

Finally, the courts decided in favour of the two former wives, whom he had left for a new one in the same village.

Mr Phineas Mudzunga (53) of Tshitomboni was scheduled to be buried early on Saturday. As fate would have it, on the morning he was to be buried, heavy rains fell with thunder and lightning, and the funeral was delayed.

When the rain subsided, the funeral service went on but with the third wife, Vho Makhadzi Johanna Mpondi, not in attendance.

Hundreds of community members, friends and relatives, who had waited a month, paid their last respects to Mudzunga as his coffin came to its last resting place in the local cemetery.

At the cemetery, the grave that had a big headstone and which had been dug under orders of the  third wife had been flattened and a new one with a small headstone was to be at his final resting place.

Speaking after the funeral, Mr Mmbangiseni Mudzunga, one of the deceased’s sons, said the family was relieved that they had buried their beloved father at long last. “This has been one of the most painful moments the family had to go through. We never thought that our father’s funeral would have to be decided through the courts. As children, we never thought anybody would challenge us in burying our father. We are just happy that it had come to pass and our father was buried with dignity,” he said.

The local traditional leader, Chief Zwidofhelangani Mmbubana, said he was also happy that Mudzunga was finally buried. “This incident does not put us in a good light. Had the families agreed when we tried to solve this matter here, they would not have lost money. There are things that could easily be solved locally, without involving the courts,” he added. He stated that the lesson from the incident was that “we should fix our things when we are still alive, in order not to leave problems when we are gone.”

Efforts to get comment from the third wife drew a blank as her daughter indicated that she was not prepared to make any comment.