Happy's funeral boycotted

Happy Sindane's Eastern Cape family boycotted his funeral on Saturday after attempts to bury him in his ancestral village fell flat.

The Mzayiya family in Stutterheim said yesterday that it did not attendSindane's funeral because it was denied the right to bury him in Cenyu village.

Sindane, 29, who was stoned to death in Tweefontein, Mpumalanga, on Easter weekend, was buried in the same area.

He was the son of Rina Mzayiya, a domestic worker from Stutterheim who was last seen with Sindane in the area in 1996.

His maternal cousin, Nompitizelo Mzayiya, said the family decided on Tuesday to bury Sindane in the Mzayiya family burial ground.

"We sent our relatives from Joburg to relay the message to the Sindanes in Mpumalanga on Wednesday morning.

"But they were told we could not bury him since we did not raise him," said Mzayiya.

"The situation was tense and finally we thought it better not to go to the funeral," she said.

Thomas Kaele, a representative of the Sindane family in Mpumalanga, said the family had gone out of its way to accommodate the Mzayiyas.

"We wanted their involvement in the funeral planning, but they wanted something completely different.

"When they did not have their way with us, they ran to court to obtain an order for Happy's body to be buried in the Eastern Cape," said Kaele.

He said a KwaMhlanga magistrate in Mpumalanga rejected the pleas.

"We raised Happy. They did not want him when he was alive. Why do they want him when he is dead?" said Kaele.

A 58-year-old man from Mpumalanga is in custody and has been charged with Sindane's murder.