HARARE — Businessman Wicknell Chivayo and his wife, Lucy Muteke, will be buried side by side at Glen Forest Cemetery on Thursday, despite the absence of their heads and a decision to depart from the usual burial practice of the Johane Masowe yeChishanu faith.
The couple died last Wednesday when the helicopter in which they were travelling crashed at Kudenga Farm in rural Marondera. The accident also killed pilot Calvin Tafirei Soda, co-pilot Courage Mutavirwa and security aide Saneliswe Magagula.
Chivayo was 46 and Muteke was 35. Their deaths have drawn mourners to the family home in Gletwyn, Harare, where a funeral wake has been under way ahead of the burial. The family has confirmed that the two will be buried on Thursday at Glen Forest.
The funeral arrangements have been complicated by the condition of the remains. The crash caused extensive damage, while fire consumed parts of the helicopter and its occupants. Forensic teams had to carry out DNA testing to identify and separate the remains before they could be released to the families.
Family spokesperson Herbert Chivayo said the fire burned until it died out on its own, leaving the bodies beyond recognition. The couple’s heads have not been recovered, and relatives have rejected claims circulating on social media that head remains had been found at the crash site.
“The bodies were burnt until the fire died on its own, so you can imagine what the status is like,” Herbert said.
“They were beyond recognition.”
He said forensic officials had initially considered whether some recovered remains could have been parts of the victims’ heads, but later examination ruled that out.
“I have seen on social media people saying that the heads were found, but that’s not true. No head was found,” he said.
“There are some remains which forensic officials suspected to be head remains, but they found out that they were not. That’s the situation.”
The absence of the heads means there will be no conventional viewing of the couple’s bodies before the burial. The family is preparing to receive the remains after the forensic work and to conduct the funeral without an open-coffin farewell for relatives, friends and other mourners. So, the burial will be conducted without any body-viewing.
The condition of the remains has also forced the church to make an exception to one of its recognised funeral practices. Members of Johane Masowe yeChishanu are generally buried without coffins. Madzibaba Lawrence Katsiru, the church leader, said Chivayo and Muteke would instead be laid to rest in coffins because of the severity of the crash and the medical requirements surrounding the remains.
Katsiru made the announcement during the funeral wake at the couple’s home. He said the burial would follow the direction of health experts and the requirements of the authorities while still being conducted under the guidance of the church.
“Kana munhu ane state yekukuvara seyakaita Baba Wicknell nemadzimai Lucy, we bury them in their coffins.
“We will follow what the health experts say but once we receive the bodies, we will bury them in their coffins in a proper way that will not disturb anything”.
The church leader said the family had handed responsibility for the burial to the faith’s leaders. Once the bodies arrive home, church members will begin prayers and prepare the couple for their final journey according to the instructions given to them by the spirit.
“We are the owners of the body, the family surrendered the bodies to us, so we will treat the bodies the way we do in our tradition,” he said.
“Togonoviga munhu netsika dzedu, and you will see when the bodies come home, we will start our prayers. We will do the prayers according to what we were told by the spirit.”
Katsiru said the church would not alter the instructions it had received. He acknowledged that Chivayo had been declared a provincial hero, but said that the state recognition and the church’s responsibility would proceed side by side until the couple had been buried.
“Tichaita zvatakanzi tiite naMutumwa and we will not change anything, we will follow everything in line with the orders.
“Yes, he was declared a (provincial) hero and we will allow them to do their part, but we will do our part as well, until they are buried in a good manner, that’s the process.”
Family spokesperson, Herbert Chivayo, said Wicknell’s body was so severed that the torso didn’t have its head, hands and legs. This was also corroborated by Chivayo’s bodyguard, who told DJ Ollah 7 in an interview that Wicknell’s body was the most dismembered among the crash victims.
The three other people who died in the helicopter crash have already been buried or have had their funeral arrangements completed. The two pilots were laid to rest before the couple’s burial, while Magagula’s funeral was also scheduled to take place separately. Their deaths have added to the grief surrounding the crash, which destroyed the aircraft and left families waiting for the recovery and identification of the remains.
The helicopter had been travelling from Chivayo’s rural home when it went down at Kudenga Farm. A final message from the pilot indicated that the aircraft was struggling to exit cloud. The crash site was left with wreckage and scattered remains, creating difficult conditions for the recovery teams and investigators.
Chivayo was a well-known businessman whose public profile extended beyond his commercial interests. His declaration as a provincial hero has added an official dimension to the funeral, while the family has maintained that the wake and burial are open to people who wish to pay their respects.
Herbert said the family had not intended to hold a private funeral and that anyone who wanted to mourn with them would be welcome at the home or at Glen Forest.
“We have never had a private funeral in our family. Everyone is welcome to this funeral. Wicknell was a man for everyone both the poor and the rich. He was not selective. So stopping people from coming will be contrary to his values. Those who are free to join us at the burial at Glen Forest, you are welcome. Those who want to come and be with us at home you are also welcome,” he said.
For the family and the church, Thursday’s burial will therefore combine a public farewell, a provincial honour and a carefully managed religious ceremony. The coffins will be used because the crash left the remains in a condition that requires protection and medical guidance, while the prayers and final rites will be conducted by the Johane Masowe yeChishanu leadership.
The couple will be buried in separate graves next to each other at Glen Forest. Their final farewell will take place without the traditional viewing of their faces and without the heads that have not been recovered, but the family and church leaders say the burial will proceed with dignity and according to the instructions governing the funeral.