By Wezzie Gausi:
Former First Lady Patricia Shanil Dzimbiri and three Malawi Defence Force (MDF) officers who died in a plane crash in Chikangawa Forest in Mzimba on Monday will be laid to rest today in their home villages.
Thursday, three others—Dan Kanyemba, Lukas Kapheni and Chisomo Chimaneni— were laid to rest after their bodies had been dispatched from a funeral home in Lilongwe.
All of them were staff in the office of Vice President Saulos Chilima, who also died in the crash and will be laid to rest on Monday next week.
Speaking before the departure of the bodies for their home villages, MDF Chief of Legal Services Dan Kuwali said Colonel Owen Sambalopa will be laid to rest in Chikowi, Zomba; Major Flora Seleman in Chimaliro, Thyolo; while Major Wales Aidin will be laid to rest in Mangochi.
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The body of Abdul Lapukeni, who was also a worker in Chilima’s office, was laid to rest in Mangochi on Wednesday.
Minister of Information Moses Kunkuyu said President Lazarus Chakwera would not manage to attend all the burial ceremonies and that he had assigned ministers to represent him.
Chakwera presided over the send-off of Dzimbiri, whose body arrived in her home village in Balaka Thursday afternoon.
“We, as government, are deeply shocked with this tragic incident. We will make sure the bereaved families are well taken care of,” Kunkuyu said.
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Group Village Head Chipikizo in Traditional Authority Chanthunya in Balaka, where Dzimbiri came from, said the former First Lady was a loving person.
“This death has hit us hard. She loved people in her area and was development conscious,” the chief said.
Hundreds of people, including former president Bakili Muluzi, who was Dzimbiri’s husband before they separated, UTM party members, government officials and religious leaders were among those who welcomed her body.
Later last evening, a requiem mass was celebrated for Dzimbiri, led by Kapire Catholic Parish priest’s Alfred Chikabwereza.
Meanwhile, at the burial of Kapheni in Kasungu, Minister of Health Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda, who represented President Lazarus Chakwera, appealed to the family to give the deceased’s pension money to his wife and children.
