PRIDE Mpofu (45) has endured a truly bizarre ordeal. In a twist of fate that borders on the surreal, he was declared dead and buried, only to discover the chilling truth 15 years later.
The bizarre saga began in 2008 when Pride’s aunt inexplicably agreed to allow her younger brother, Stanley Mpofu (born in 1971), to assume the identity of her nephew, Pride (born in 1980). The reasons behind this astonishing decision remain shrouded in mystery.
The tragic consequences soon unfolded. Stanley, living under Pride’s identity, tragically passed away. Today, Pride finds himself in a Kafkaesque nightmare, stripped of his identity and forced to confront the chilling reality of his own “burial.” He struggles to obtain a new identity document, a bureaucratic hurdle compounded by the fact that two of his children remain undocumented, while his eldest, now in Grade Seven, is forced to use her mother’s surname.
Pride’s attempts to rectify this situation have been met with frustration. In 2012, while trying to obtain a new identity card at Efusi Primary School in Gwabalanda, he was met with disbelief. A Civil Registry Department officer informed him that records indicated he had died on February 27, 2010, and was buried on March 3, 2010, with a burial order issued by the Mpilo civil registry department.
Adding to the bewilderment, Moonlight Funeral Services, who handled the funeral arrangements, confirmed that they had paid out a death benefit to Pride’s aunt, who was the beneficiary.
The mystery deepens further when one considers that Stanley possessed his own original birth certificate. Why, then, did he choose to assume Pride’s identity? And how did he manage to secure employment as Pride Mpofu at Clan Transport? These questions continue to plague Pride, leaving him trapped in a Kafkaesque nightmare of his own making.
“They called me while I was still in South Africa and told me about their plan, but I flatly refused even though they persisted. They never gave me any reason why they were doing that. In 2008, I came home for a visit and decided to give my ID to my friend for safekeeping. I didn’t want to take it to South Africa lest I lose it,” said Pride.
A few months after his return to South Africa, Pride got a call from his friend, a headmaster at a school in Matabeleland North, who told him that he was now being pestered by the paternal aunt and his uncle, constantly demanding the identity card.
“He told me that they were always at his house, telling him that he had no right to keep my documents, after all, he was not even a member of our family. Eventually, he succumbed to pressure and surrendered the document to them.
“I was so hurt and angry about what they did. I phoned them, telling them that they must immediately return the document to my friend or give it to my maternal aunt. I asked my maternal aunt why they were doing that, but she didn’t give me any answer, just telling me that I must not worry. I told her that many things may happen, including death, and what would they do when that happened, but she would hear nothing of it,” said Pride.
True to his word, Stanley passed away at Mpilo Hospital on February 27, 2010, but hospital authorities recorded that Pride was the one who died. The burial order, however, does not show the cause of death.
“Since I was not there, I am told that they went to Moonlight Funeral Services to claim since my aunt was a policyholder and her younger brother, one Pride, was a beneficiary. However, they presented his correct name, and the company refused to process the policy.
“They returned a few days later, now having a different beneficiary in the name of Pride, and the policy was processed,” he said.
He does not know what they said at the time of identifying the body because the person who was in the mortuary was certainly not him, but the funeral services company knew the person as Pride Mpofu. During the funeral service, all speakers were speaking of Stanley, including what was written on the grave signage.
However, when Saturday Chronicle visited the grave in the company of Pride on Thursday, the signage was no longer there, and the grave is the only one with no signage and has grass growing over it.
“It’s my first time coming here. I relocated from South Africa in 2019, and I have not had any zeal to come and see where my uncle was buried. Nevertheless, ngiyamxolela umalume ngoba usezilalele, and I hope he, too, regrets whatever he did,” said a now emotional Pride at the graveside.
Bulawayo provincial registrar, Jane Peters, said the matter can only be solved if those at the centre of it admitted to their act through an admission of guilt form available at any police station.
“What we do here is we send fingerprints to the National Fingerprints Bureau (NFB), who then advise on the situation, but from what you have said, an admission of guilt form will be needed for us to reverse everything, but we obviously can’t reverse death. What we see here is an act of criminality if what you are saying is really what transpired,” said Peters.
An identity fraud expert said situations like this happen when someone has committed a serious crime and wants to evade justice. Identity fraud (also known as identity theft or crime) involves someone using another individual’s personal information without consent, often to obtain a benefit.
