Mandla “Mampintsha” Maphumulo’s mother is furious after discovering her son’s death on social media.
According to the Daily Sun, Zamanguni Gumede attempted but failed to obtain permission from her daughter-in-law Babes Wodumo to view her son’s body.
Zama told the outlet that she was not informed of her son’s death. “Mpintsho passed away on 27 December 2022, but I was never informed. I only learned from the media that my son had passed on.” She added, “I was hoping to get formal communication from my in-laws but that never happened.”
She said she does not know where Mampintsha’s body is “In fact, I don’t know where they kept his body, so the purpose of my visit was to request Babes to give me permission to see Mpinstho’s body before the funeral.”
“I understand she lost her husband but I also lost a son,” she said. Babe Wodumo’s sister Nondumiso Simelane, however, claims that she informed her children but that Zama did not follow up with them. That’s why she wasn’t involved when making arrangements for the memorial and funeral.
Zama is currently trending on Twitter following a video of her family causing a commotion outside the Clermont Icebolethu funeral parlor in Durban. In the video, the livid family members can be heard saying “what did she do to you” and “she only wants to see her son,” while insulting Babes Wodumo’s family.
“WATCH: It looks like Mampintsha’s funeral will be marred by war of words between those from his mother’s side in KwaMashu and the family of Babes Wodumo. Apparently, this unnecessary drama unfolded outside the mortuary earlier today” wrote Sihle Mavuso.
WATCH: It looks like Mampintsha's funeral will be marred by war of words between those from his mother's side in KwaMashu and the family of Babes Wodumo. Apparently this unnecessary drama unfolded outside the mortuary earlier today. pic.twitter.com/mnJu8etwaB
— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) December 28, 2022
The video has outraged Twitter users. @MashuduBusta said: “In African culture, the elders are the ones who will advise on how things should be done, especially for sacred things like a funeral. No such thing as a 20-something dictating the process because she is the wife.”
@giftbm shared: “Please keep us away from family drama it happens in many families and actually we don’t want to know and we don’t care about it. Black Families always want to blame someone when their breadwinner or child dies – let’s accept our black foolishness and not glorify it.”
@Thabang94527261 wrote, “Kotse we are still dealing with some people who will never accept that their was son was married, throwing tantrums, allegations instead against mostly wife but never a man , mostly in the name of his deceased estates.”
@nqo_mkhize7 “Imagine loosing your child n being told you can’t see them because their sister inlaw says so. UMaka Mampitsha isdakwa yes but wamumitha to hell with the bible n the constitution she has every right ukuzidelisa ngokushona kwengane yakhe. Uyahlonishwa umzali”