Closure for Idai victims’ families . . . Govt starts processing death certificates

Source: The Chronicle – Breaking news

About 340 people were confirmed dead, but not all bodies were recovered in Zimbabwe or in Mozambique where many were washed down, and in the end police still have 279 people listed as missing with no hope of ever finding their remain

Ray Bande, Senior Reporter

GOVERNMENT has started processing death certificates for Cyclone Idai victims — with a good number of families whose relatives have been missing and presumed dead, over the past five years — having accessed the crucial documents following a legal process to declare them dead.

In a wide-ranging interview, Attorney General, Mrs Virginia Mabhiza, who was in Mutare on Wednesday, said a class action — a legal process to declare the 279 people who went missing in the aftermath of the March 2019 tropical storm legally dead — has started and some families in Chimanimani have since been issued with their relatives’ death certificates.

This has brought closure to the families.

Death certificates are crucial to process the deceased’s estates and other inheritance-related issues.

In some cases, some children were left without parents, and the death certificates are needed to process legal guardianship for the surviving minors.

The development is also largely expected to bring closure to the bereaved families.

Cyclone Idai hit the south eastern parts of the country on March 14, 2019, with Chimanimani being the hardest hit, leaving a trail of destruction and 279 people missing.

“I have always highlighted Mutare as a typical case of my maiden appearance as the Attorney General where we assisted people affected by Cyclone Idai. That is part of the public interest which my office is largely concerned and seized with.

“We have assisted people affected by Cyclone Idai. We filed all the cases of the persons affected by Cyclone Idai at the Mutare office. We won our applications, and we are helping them.

“We wanted them to be able to access documentation that include death certificates, and for some it was for NSSA purposes where people wanted to process the deceased’s estates and so forth. We are proud to say that we successfully assisted the people of Chimanimani to get those documents.
Even though I may not have the exact number, I think more than 100 families have so far received the relevant paperwork, while others are still at different stages of the process,” she said.

In legal lingo, a class action is a procedural device that permits one or more plaintiffs to file and prosecute a lawsuit on behalf of a larger group, or “class”, and in this case the Attorney-General, Mrs Mabhiza as part of her constitutional mandate to defend the public interest, is rolling out the process.

This means that all 279 victims of Cyclone Idai listed as missing have now been declared legally dead by the High Court sitting in Mutare in an unopposed class action.

Ideally, under the ordinary law, a relative of a person missing can approach the courts after five years to have that person declared legally dead.

Mrs Mabhiza facilitated the class action so that the families, many of whom are less privileged, can have the declaration made without paying legal costs.

Mrs Mabhiza followed the legal formalities, publishing the formal notice in The Manica Post on December 1, 2023 and seeking any objections.

At the end of the 10 days set aside for anyone to raise objection, no notice of opposition was filed with the Registrar of the High Court in Mutare.

The application by the Attorney General was subsequently sat down on the unopposed roll.

This means the resident judge had to ensure that all the legal steps have been dully taken as a mere formality when the application comes from the Attorney General, and then grant the order.

Relatives of the missing victims told The Manica Post that they have been waiting for the process with bated breath.

Mr Tatenda Mapungwana, who was aged 14 when both his parents and his three siblings were swept away from Kopa Madhomeni Residence Camp, said this was a welcome development in his recovery process.

“I have not been able to access my parents’ death certificates that would allow me to derive benefits from whatever was in their name.

‘‘Both of my parents were teachers, so the production of death certificates will assist me to get what they worked for,” he said.

However, some also called for the quick repatriation of human remains that were discovered in Mozambique, and accord them decent burials.

About 340 people were confirmed dead, but not all bodies were recovered in Zimbabwe or in Mozambique where many were washed down, and in the end police still have 279 people listed as missing with no hope of ever finding their remains.