Shanil buried according to her wish

On the last day of honouring her industrious and selfless life, thousands escorted former first lady Patricia Shanil Dzimbiri to her final resting place at Chimpikizo Village in Balaka District.

Dzimbiri died in a Malawi Defence Force plane crash in Chikangawa Forest in Mzimba on Monday together with Vice-President Dr Saulos Chilima and seven others.

Of note at the funeral yesterday was the granting by family members and government of some wishes she made in a letter to a friend in May last year on how she wanted her funeral to be handled. 

Overall, she did not allow people to mourn, but celebrate her life. Among others, she said her funeral should take place at Dziwa Primary School ground, and the memorial mass should start at 11am.

The 60-year-old primary school teacher-cum-politician was, indeed, celebrated. As per her desire, the funeral service turned into a humorous and relaxed occasion.

Nobody, not even her five children, their father former State president Bakili Muluzi, family members and close friends overtly wept.

Directors of ceremony veteran broadcaster Owen Lupeska and MDF’s Major Alexander Reize Phiri directed the service with simplicity.

They cracked jokes while reminding the grieved audience that the departed Dzimbiri, highly regarded by Malawians, requested that  nobody should weep but celebrate her life.

So, at exactly 14.50pm, a white casket carrying her remains was interred at her village graveyard, some 200 metres from the family home, amid a three-gun salute by the MDF.

But the service was not without drama as twice Muluzi was forced to intervene when the atmosphere became hostile after some irate UTM Party women tried to block former president Joyce Banda and Speaker of Parliament Catherine Gotani-Hara from making speeches

The Speaker was delegated by President Lazarus Chakwera but the UTM women were not happy that they booed and shouted when they were asked to speak.

Later, Hara requested Malawi Congress Party (MCP) member Maxwell Thyolera to speak on her behalf. 

Still this did not please the UTM women and it had to take Muluzi to intervene and pacify the visibly annoyed women clad in their orange colours.

“She [Banda] had been a member of the family and I have personally requested her to say something about her colleague who they have been working together for several times. So, please let her speak,” Muluzi pleaded.

In her eulogy, Banda asked the people to remember the fruits the late Dzimbiri had left behind.

“A good soul has ascended to heaven. Let us all remember the good works she had been fulfilling in our midst,” said Banda who ruled the country between 2012 and 2014.

In their tributes, daughter Edna Dailia Uka, Dzimbiri’s best friend a Mrs D. Chathyoka, her UTM party, chiefs and church leaders spoke highly of a selfless woman who reached out to “thousands of needy and vulnerable people.”

Other high-profile Malawians, such as newly-formed People’s Democratic Party president Kondwani Nankhumwa, former vice-president Khumbo Kachali, Minister of Water and Sanitation Abida Mia, Alliance for Democracy president Enoch Chihana and former first lady Gertrude Mutharika, paid their last respects