Cape Town - A family row has erupted over the burial of a Kuils River mom and her two daughters whose husband first killed them and then himself.
The husband’s family has allegedly refused to allow Pumla Mvinjelwa Ntombela’s family to have the bodies.
Angry relatives of Pumla, 33, say they do not want their sister to be buried with her murderer.
Pumla along with her daughters, Nhlanhla and Bajabulile, were found shot and killed in their home in Bardale Village last week along with her husband Simthembile who apparently left a suicide note before turning the gun on himself.
Her sister, Nondumiso Mvinjelwa, says after the shocking incident both families agreed to wait for her father, Mncedisi, 73, to travel from the Eastern Cape for the funeral arrangements. But they got a shock when they found out Simthembile’s family had gone to Tygerberg Mortuary to identify the bodies without them.
“Pumla has their surname so they could identify them and have the bodies released without us, but the management stepped in and both families were asked to leave,” said Nondumiso.
“Then they told us that their elders in the Eastern Cape had instructed them to no longer communicate with us as they are going with cultural rights which indicate that the family will be buried on their father’s family homestead.”
Nondumiso said they have been to see lawyers and are willing to fight Simthembile’s family in court to ensure Pumla and her daughters are buried at her mother’s homestead.
“In the suicide note he instructed Pumla to get R100 000 from Discovery and give it to his mother for his funeral and told her not to come. This is why we think he planned to kill himself only.
Simthembile’s family declined to comment when contacted.