There's life after burial

THE SAGA of the wedding and funeral between the two families of Mgudlwa and Matanzima warrants a reply to those who have chosen to manipulate the relations between the two families for their own ends.

There is more to these two families than mere biological lineage. The Mgudlwas played a catalytic role in determining the future of the pillar of the Matanzima family -- Kaizer Daliwonga Matanzima -- and the Mgudlwa family is proud of the role it has played.

The notion that the wedding should have been postponed belongs in the minds of people of little understanding.

The preparation for a wedding is a long process involving two families and a lot of distant invitees and to postpone it would have required logistics beyond the command of a single family, especially in the rural areas.

Equally, one could argue that the funeral could have been set for the Sunday following the wedding, a day of the week many of their families have been buried in the past.

People who have been fed half-truths will falter into concluding that it is the Mgudlwas who should have done the postponing.

This is out of ignorance of the fact that the two families have, for decades, existed side by side, spurred by a spirit of mutual respect.

We want to assure the prophets of doom, who predict that the so-called strained relations between the two families will worsen, that there is still life after the burial of Chief George Matanzima on the same day as the wedding of the son of Chief Kaulele Mgudlwa, Dumisani Mgudlwa.

DV Mgudlwa
Umtata