Africa-Press – Lesotho. TWO families are locked in a bitter wrangle over who has the right to bury a deceased woman this Saturday. The deceased, Retšelisitsoe Ntsetsere, was cohabiting with Moshoeshoe Tsaile.
But before she died, she told her mother, ’Maneo Ntsetsere, that she did not want to be buried at the Tsailes if she dies. The two families of Ntsetsere and Tsaile are now fighting for the right to bury Ntsetsere also known as ’Makutloano Tsaile.
Each family is claiming the right to bury the deceased. The dispute has now landed the two families in the Tšifa-li-Mali High Court in Leribe. Retšelisitsoe’s mother, ’Maneo Ntsetsere, filed an urgent application in the court to block, Moshoeshoe Tsaile from burying her “at a place she never wished to be buried”.
Ntsetsere told the court that her daughter had clearly expressed her wish not to be buried at the Tsailes homestead. She told the court that a day before she died, her daughter said she should be buried at her house in Ha-Setene in Mahobong and not anywhere else.
In her affidavit, Ntsetsere said her daughter was not legally married to Moshoeshoe Tsaile’s family. She argues that this is evidenced by the fact she had always used her maiden names.
The court heard that Retšelisitsoe never used the Tsaile’s names. “There was never any valid customary marriage between my daughter and Tsaile,” Ntsetsere said.
She said her daughter and Tsaile were just cohabiting. She said she did not query their cohabitation because it was her legitimate expectation that Tsaile would eventually marry her daughter.
But that never happened. Ntsetsere informed the court that her daughter eloped with Tsaile sometime in 1997 to stay in Matlameng. However, they were later banished from the same place by Tsaile’s grandmother after they erected their house in 2010.
So they moved to Maputsoe to stay in a rented apartment for two years. Ntsetsere said after realising that her daughter and Tsaile were staying in a rented apartment, she personally gave them one of her sites in Mahobong, Ha-Setene, to build their own homestead.
Then later in 2015, the couple started building their own home. “It had always been my daughter’s wish to be buried in Ha-Setene,” Ntsetsere said, adding that Retšelisitsoe would always say that she wanted to be buried in Ha-Setene.
She said her daughter used to tell her that she should be buried in Ha-Setene even if their house was not finished. After relocating from Maputsoe to stay in Ha-Setene in July 2023, her daughter fell critically ill.
“She was admitted at Motebang Hospital where she met her untimely death on August 8, 2023,” the court heard.
The court heard that barely a day before her daughter’s death, Ntsetsere visited the deceased along with ’Maneileng Montši, her eldest daughter. Tsaile was also with them.
Ntsetsere said even in her final days of her life, Retšelisitsoe maintained that she wanted to be buried in Ha-Setene. “My daughter’s last wishes must be protected and respected as it is a Sesotho maxim that ‘lentsoe la mofu le aheloa lesaka,” she said.
This loosely translated means the wishes of the deceased must be respected. At all material times, Ntsetsere told the court that they were in agreement with Tsaile where her daughter would be buried.
But as of August 30, Tsaile changed his mind and told them that her daughter should be buried in Matlameng. Ntsetsere said Tsaile told him that his family had decided to bury her daughter in Matlameng contrary to Retšelisitsoe’s last wishes.
She told the court that she was not making or intending to make any monetary claims to Retšelisitsoe’s estate since her daughter had cohabited with Tsaile for over 20 years.
“My claim is that my daughter’s last wishes be protected and respected by the Tsaile family,” Ntsetsere said.
“I have a right to determine the place of burial for the deceased against the Tsailes because legally speaking, my daughter was never married to them,” she said.
She argued that her daughter’s wishes must be protected by the law and as such, it was in the interests of justice that her remains be buried at a place where she chose during her lifetime.
“Honouring the deceased’s last wishes will bring me healing,” Ntsetsere said. She said Tsaile wanted to go against her daughter’s wishes.
“I made attempts to have a meeting with him before members of Pitseng Police under the Public Relations Unit,” she said. But efforts to resolve their differences were in vain as he had turned against the will of her daughter.
Ntsetsere told the court that the matter warrants urgent relief in that Tsaile had already made preparations to bury the deceased on September 9. She said Tsaile did this without first considering the wishes of Retšelisitsoe and prior consultation and consent to her as the correct person who has burial rights.
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