BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
BUSINESSMAN Farai Matsika is under pressure to relinquish his role as Doves Holdings, Doves Funeral Services and Doves Life Assurance director after his loss in a battle for ownership of Croco Motors with his half-brother Moses Chingwena.
The development comes at a time the funeral parlour has been embroiled in a burial scandal that has forced it to conduct exhumations at Granville Cemetery, in Harare.
The exhumations came after a mix-up of bodies early this year that saw Doves burying two bodies in one coffin while burying an empty coffin in Nyanga.
Doves Funeral is entangled in a dispute with the Chimwamurombe family from Nyanga, who it handed an empty coffin for burial misrepresenting that it contained the body, of Maxwell Chimwamurombe.
This resulted in Maxwell’s mock burial being conducted in March this year.
Keep Reading
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Insiders at Doves disclosed that Matsika is now under pressure to resign ahead of a case at the High Court where he is accused of trying to dishonestly take over the funeral assurance company.
“After he lost at the Supreme Court and the judges labelled him a fraudster, many people at Doves want Matsika to resign,” an insider said.
“They are afraid that Matsika’s name will drag the company into the mud.”
The insider added: “Things are not well for him.
“The ruling, which called him a fraudster comes at a time Doves is sucked in an exhumation scandal.
“The board and senior management is kept in the dark and only himself and his brother Nyasha were running the show.
“There are genuine fears the company could sink.”
Matsika was not reachable for a comment yesterday.
On Wednesday last week, Doves’ undertakers accompanied by the police dug a grave and two bodies were found in the same coffin.
The remains were taken to Parirenyatwa Hospital mortuary for DNA tests.