Doves "Empty Coffin Saga" Driver Fired

The Doves Funeral Services driver involved in the Nyanga empty coffin scandal, Sam Chitsike, was fired on 31 December on allegations of negligence of duty, a report claims.

When contacted for a comment by H-Metro, Doves Holdings group public relations manager, Innocent Tshuma, said full details would be provided after police investigations are completed. Said Tshuma:

I am not in any position to comment on any development at the moment. As we said, we are letting the police do their work and we all make sure this issue is put to bed.

Doves came under scrutiny last year after it gave the relatives of the deceased Maxwell Chimwamurombe an empty coffin for burial.

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The body was allegedly kept in a morgue for six months, between March and August last year, long after the coffin supposedly containing Chimwamurombe’s remains had been buried in Nyanga’s Matoropoto Village.

The body was later given a pauper’s burial, at Granville Cemetery.

Chitsike is being accused of concealing the mix-up and later notifying the Chimwamurombe family of the alleged faulty burial.

He, however, claimed that he was merely a transporter and the fault was with the morticians.

Chitsike said he had collected the body from Parirenyatwa, together with two plastic bags, which contained the deceased’s belongings.

Meanwhile, the body was later exhumed from Granville Cemetery for reburial.

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