President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government has accorded a State-assisted funeral to Elvis Nyathi, a Zimbabwean killed in anti-immigrant violence in neighbouring South Africa last week.
Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Misheck Sibanda said the government would meet the costs of repatriating Nyathi’s remains back to Zimbabwe as well as other funeral expenses.
“The remains of the late departed are expected in the country at the weekend,” Sibanda said in a statement late Wednesday.
Nyathi, 43, was burnt to death on the night of April 6 by a mob of South Africans who were moving door-to-door in Johannesburg’s Diepsloot suburb in search of African foreigners.
The state-assisted funeral comes in the wake of criticism by the opposition of the government’s apparent indifference to the plight of Zimbabweans who are often the subject of Afrophobic attacks by South Africans.
The South Africans accuse Zimbabweans and nationals of other African countries of taking their jobs and contributing to a rise in crime in the country.
JN/APA