Mbongeni Ngema’s Family Seeks Legal Assistance to Exhume His Body for Reburial

Renowned playwright Mbongeni Ngema‘s family is seeking legal assistance to exhume his body for reburial after he was initially buried at Chesterville Heroes’ Acre in Red Hill Cemetery, Durban.

Mbongeni passed away in a tragic head-on collision while returning from a funeral in the Eastern Cape on December 27, 2023.

The decision to bury Mbongeni at Red Hill was reportedly made by his disputed legal wife, Mpumelelo Gumede, and the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government. However, a revelation from his marriage certificate issued by the Department of Home Affairs stated that he was single at the time of his passing.

It has been reported that Mbongeni’s family wished to lay him to rest in eMfana, a location he had sung about in his song ‘Mhla Ngifayo’ with the music group, Baobab Sisters. The family has even submitted the song to their legal team to assist in the process of reburial.

The family’s decision to seek the exhumation of Mbongeni’s body comes amid disagreements with Mpumelelo, his disputed legal wife. Before his funeral, Wanda Moncho, Mbongeni’s customary wife with whom he shares a child, wrote to KwaZulu-Natal premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube requesting assistance in the funeral and burial preparations.

Wanda and the Ngema family have now tasked Mbongeni’s lawyer, Advocate Christopher Shabangu, to initiate the legal process of exhumation to fulfill their wishes of having Mbongeni reburied in eMfana as he had expressed in his song.