Kangara’s riches follow him to the grave

Lifestyle Reporters

There is an English cliché that says “death is an equaliser”.

It is premised on reasoning that no one carries their opulence to their final resting place.

Informing the position is the belief that the moment one dies and is buried, they leave all the riches they had during their time on earth and carry literally nothing, save for a beautiful and expensive casket and clothes.

However, when characters are larger than life, some families may choose to immortalise their relatives’ story through a grand burial spectacle.

Such is the story of late Bindura gold dealer, Kudzanai Kangara, who succumbed to Covid-19 at a Chitungwiza medical facility earlier this year.

Commonly known as Boss Kangara, the man was loaded with cash and his lifestyle, punctuated by a fleet of top-of-the-range vehicles and appetisingly well refurbished houses, volumes about his riches.

If one thinks the fleet of cars he possessed during his time on earth and the imposing casket in which he was buried were captivating, then that person has not seen the glass “mausoleum”, or whatever it is called, that has broken social media platforms this week.

Clearly, the structure gobbled thousands of US dollars and it is gorgeous to the extent of making a lot of people green with envy as they can use the money to build a luxurious house even in some of Harare’s middle density suburbs.

His family is determined to make sure he exits the stage with the same rhythm he danced.

Tech savvy Zimbabweans flooded comments on almost every social media platform where the pictures were shared, with some questioning the appropriateness of gesture.

One Sarah Musonza said;

“Your money doesn’t save you unfortunately we are all going six feet under regardless of how decorated the tomb is, what matters is where the soul is going.”

Another Facebook user, Mai Kupa said after death, nothing else matters and the building is a waste of resources.

But others that appreciate good things, held different perspectives.

Aisha Nyanoto said;

“People would have worked for their money. Only the poor enjoy ridiculing other people’s efforts.”

While debate on the structure rages on, our sources close to the family say whatever is circulating on social media is not the final thing and once completed, many people will be shocked.

“Whatever people have seen are highlights of how the structure will look like when completed. I am sorry to say if some people were angered by the pictures they have seen so far, their anger will get worse once the construction is concluded,” said a close source yesterday.

Boss Kangara’s fortune was massive and it allowed him to own a number of houses, vehicles, marry three wifes and be generous to everyone around him.

African custom wants those that remain to give the departed ones all the respect they deserve, by cleaning and maintaining the grave site, and it would appear Boss Kangara’s family is doing just that, but in an extraordinary way that speaks to the riches the man had.

Barely four metres away from the main house at his rural homestead in Shamva, stands a magnificent tinted glass mausoleum with sliding double doors which have his two identical pictures in a fancy cap, resting on his Mercedes Benz G-Wagon and an inscription, “Rest in peace Boss Kangara”, at the top.

When Saturday Herald Lifestyle visited the site where construction work around the house was ongoing as well as pavements of the yard and final touches to the grave, no one was at home except workers.

One of his sons, Darlington who was in Harare, directed the news crew to their house in Bindura’s Aerodrome suburb.

At the two semi-detached houses in Aerodrome, were a G-Wagon Mercedes Benz and 2020 570S McLaren, whose cost runs into hundreds of thousands.

The premise is manned by an armed security guard who said only the youngest wife was at home and was not in a position to grant an interview.

Kangara’s friend, Dr Kudzanai Chimedza, said the late gold buyer was an ambassador of Bindura.

“I know him and he would come to my surgery. He helped a lot of people in Bindura. He was an ambassador for this town,” said Dr Chimedza.

The case of riches following to the grave is not new.

When Genius “Ginimbi” Kadungure was buried in Domboshawa, it is believed that his friends poured some of the most expensive wines and alcohol on his grave as a way of saluting his lifestyle.

Some of these grand post-death gestures are rooted in spiritual belief, say experts.

Others believe that luxurious tombs are built to equip the departed for their next life.

Mausoleums are not new in civilised society. Taj Mahal in Agra is an immense mausoleum of white marble, built between 1632 and 1653 by order of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favourite wife.

The Taj is one of the most well-preserved and architecturally beautiful tombs in the world, one of the masterpieces of Mughal architecture, and one of the great wonders of India.

Called “a teardrop on the cheek of eternity”, the monument is actually an integrated complex of structures.

Besides the white doomed marble mausoleum, it includes several other beautiful buildings, reflecting pools, and extensive ornamental gardens with flowering trees and bushes.

In Zimbabwe, Government was in the process of constructing a mausoleum for former President Robert Mugabe at the National Heroes Acre in Harare, following a request by his family.

However, Cde Mugabe was later buried at his rural home in Zvimba.

One of the key advantages of mausoleums is that they are considered to be a cleaner and dryer option than a traditional underground burial.

This option will appeal to people who do not want to be cremated, or are apprehensive about being buried underground.

Another advantage is that mausoleums actually reduce the amount of land that is used for a burial and is therefore more ecologically friendly than an underground burial.

A mausoleum may attract people who are greener at heart.

Mausoleums are buildings; therefore, they allow people to visit in comfort year-round as the crypts are protected from inclement weather, unlike traditional graves in a cemetery.

Some mausoleums also provide appropriate background music and convenient benches so that visitors can sit in comfort and reflect in a peaceful environment.

Although many people don’t know this, mausoleums are actually quite common and many cemeteries provide single, companion or family configurations.

This provides the opportunity to purchase a family mausoleum where all members of the family can be entombed together when the time comes. This also makes the option of entombment slightly more cost effective.

The first disadvantage of this burial option is that caskets in some instances have exploded in mausoleums as a result of gas build-up within the mausoleum from decomposition.

However, manufacturers have since changed the design of casket sealers to include “burpers” which release — or burp out — accumulated gases, considerably reducing this risk.

In addition, some mausoleums may not be as water and weatherproof and over time considerable damage can be done to the caskets that could also compromise the structure.

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