The popular SABC 2 soapie Muvhango is being re-enacted in real life. Two royal families are in a fierce battle over where a body belonging to one of the families should be buried.

The Rabali and Mazhamba royal families are at each other´s throats, with the Rabali family preventing the Mazhamba family from burying their daughter at what they claim is their ancestral burial ground.

At the centre of the dispute is the body of Matodzi Mazhamba, which was in the mortuary for six months before she could finally be buried.

By now, Matodzi Dyna Mazhamba should have been buried after her death in January 2009, but the two royal houses continue to fight over where she should be buried. Mazhamba (33) of Ha Mazhamba-Kokwane in the Nzhelele area outside Louis Trichardt died after a long but unspecified illness.

Mazhamba, who is the brother of the deceased, said his sister fell ill in November last year. After her death, the family decided to follow her wish that she should be buried alongside her ancestors at the royal family burial ground at Tshitakani tsha Vhaluvhu-Kokwane. He said they had made all the arrangements for the burial, which was supposed to take place on January 23, but they were stopped by an interdict which came at the eleventh hour. “We had already finalised preparations and some of our relatives had arrived for the burial, when we were stopped on January 22,” he said.

He said they had to wait for a court to decide on the matter and it took a lengthy six months, while their sister lay in the mortuary.

After failing to get rapid recourse from the courts, the family asked the Mphephu royal council to intervene and they were all summoned by the council. The family was given the go-ahead to bury their loved one. The family was very happy that they would at long last have the chance to give their beloved sister a decent funeral. Mazhamba was finally laid to rest on 19 June 2009.

Problems started again after the family was charged with trespassing

On December1, 2009, the court ordered that they should remove the body and take it to the communal grave and they were given 14 days during which they should make sure they had re-moved the body.

The brother said that on Monday a rumour started spreading that a body was being dug at their royal gravesite.

“We thought they were just joking as we knew that the 14 days we were given had not elapsed and we did not expect any of our relatives to be dug up,” he said. They sent one of the family members to go and check and he confirmed that the body had been dug up.

“We are very sad. How on earth could these people be so heartless as to let our sister´s body not rest? Just imagine, six months after her burial, her body is dug up again. This is a disgrace to our culture,” he said.

He said the Mazhamba burial grounds belonged to them and no one would dictate to them who should be buried there or not. The family said they had buried more than ten members of the family there and they were surprised that some people were now against their burying their sister there. “Why should we leave our ancestral burial grounds where even our chief, Zwimbiluni Mazhamba, is buried, for the communal graves? This is a curse on our African culture and our senior traditional leaders should intervene for the sake of our culture,” he said.

Peter Mazhamba, another brother of the deceased, said the actions of the Rabalis are a show of contempt toward the senior members of the Mphephu traditional house, who have resolved the issue. “This is a form of disrespect. Vho Thovhele Mphephu gave a ruling that we should bury her, but still the Rabali people are now disregarding the ruling.” he said

He said they would not let the matter lie and would do everything possible in fighting for what is rightfully theirs, even if it meant going to the premier and also the highest office in the country.

The chairperson of the Mphephu Royal Council, Japan Mphephu, said he could not comment on something he had not seen but would issue a statement as soon as he had all the facts about the matter.

Efforts to get comment from the Rabali Royal House drew a blank.

Their legal representative, Mr Azwimmbavhi Madia of AR Madia Attorneys, said he could not comment.

“I have not received any instructions from my client. I have got the right to protect my client and we are ready to meet them in court,” he said.