Moana’s funeral ready for today

Fidelis Munyoro and Ivan Zhakata
SOCIALITE Michelle “Moana” Amuli, who died in a terrible car accident on November 8, will be buried today after the Superior Court resolved a three-week standoff between her separated parents over handling the funeral and burial site.

Judge Pisirayi Kwenda did not find a legal basis to stop the burial in accordance with the Muslim religion according to her father’s wishes.

Moana’s father, Mr. Ishmael Amuli, and mother, Mrs. Yolanda Kuvaoga wished for different funeral ceremonies and different graves.

The burial order designated the Warren Hills Cemetery as Moana’s resting place, but the mother insisted that she be buried Christian-style in the Zororo Cemetery.

Judge Kwenda ruled that the burial order issued to Mr. Amuli on November 18, 2020 was correctly issued with the knowledge of the mother, who admitted during the hearing that there was nothing wrong with the form of its issuance.

“It is still valid. There is no reason to replace one valid burial order with another, ”Judge Kwenda said.

“The injunction request cannot be successful.”

Burial and cremation law [Chapter 5:03] does not have any provision dealing with the resolution of burial disputes and the judge considered that it could be that in the past such provision was not necessary due to the richness of the culture and adherence to it by the various ethnic communities in Zimbabwe .

Given this new case, a legislative intervention may be necessary to prescribe a dispute resolution mechanism that gives prominence to common law remedies.

The mother of the late Michelle “Moana” Amuli, Mrs. Yolanda Kuvaoga (dressed in black) leaves the high court in the company of unidentified relatives

But in deciding this case, Judge Kwenda found that there was no evidence that Mr. Amuli would exclude Ms. Kuvaoga from his daughter’s funeral saying: “Assigning roles at a funeral as outlined in this case does not equate to a restriction on the rights to participate in her daughter’s funeral activities, which warrants the intervention of the court.

“The applicant has not established the legal basis for the requested repairs.”

Judge Kwenda said that the relevance of what Ms. Kuvaoga said was Moana’s worldly lifestyle and her alleged celebrity status was difficult to understand.

Attorney Arshiel Mugiyo representing the father of the late Michelle “Moana” Amuli, Mr. Ishmael Amuli, addressed journalists in front of the High Court in Harare yesterday.

“It seems to me that the plaintiff does not appreciate the possible implications of overemphasizing the secular habits of the deceased who she believes gave her a high social position in her last days because she could be enjoying the greatness of perceived status,” Justice Kwenda said.

The judge said that Ms. Kuvaoga’s oral evidence had no relevance to the requested relief. On the other hand, he found out that Moana was born into the Amuli family.

To this end, the court determined that the right to the family was fundamental and protected in the constitution under Chapter 4 of the Bill of Rights.

In this regard, Judge Kwenda ruled that Mr. Amuli raised his daughter from the age of just one year until she reached adulthood and was her sole custodian and guardian.