BY ARTWELL CHINGWARA SITHOLE
LIFE can change within a blink of an eye. It’s true when they say you never miss your water until your well dries. There is a case of a man who changes from being a businessman’s son to a school drop-out and cattle herder.
Jatazy Express had branches in most shopping centres in Chipinge district. Mr Simango, the owner of the entity, ran it well and ensured that all his children’s needs were catered for. His children were learning at the best schools of the time and were winning accolades for their outstanding grades.
On a fateful day, while on his way back home, Mr Simango was involved in a head on collision with a truck and died on the spot. On the burial day, speaker after speaker praised him for the development he has been pushing in the community.
After the burial, relatives gathered to discuss how the estate was going to be run. A fierce battle emerged amongst his younger brothers who were all targeting the deceased’s Toyota Fortuner vehicle. Since Mr Simango didn’t leave a will, relatives pounced on his belongings leaving his wife and son, Panashe with an empty house.
Writing a will is one of the best practices most people are taking for granted even though it is a means of avoiding their immediate families the stress of losing their estates due to greediness in the distribution of the deceased’s estate.
Many people are reluctant to leave a will leaving their children and wives at the receiving end when death strikes. In most cases children will drop out of school and turn into streets beggars owing to their estate seized by greedy relatives.
A will act as an instruction manual that ensures collateral security of the deceased estate as it provides a list on how the property should or must be distributed among families.
With the exception of equal distribution and avoidance of greediness, leaving a will instructs the surviving relatives and the community to have respect of the deceased estate, take good care and use it wisely for the good and betterment of the family.
A will is an important aspect of life as it protects the deceased estate from the hostile and unlawful take-over. In most cases brothers and close relatives of the deceased usually assume ownership of everything forgetting that the departed soul left a family that needs resources to survive.
In some instances uneducated barbaric relatives grab business entities making them insolvent because of poor or lack of managerial skills. If Mr Simango had left a will, Jatazy Express would have been in existence. Having a will ensures continuity of a business even if the owner or founder dies.
Some of the street kids in our towns and cities may be victims of inheritance wrangle. Many of these streets kids now resort to pick pocketing as a survival means.
One street kid whom I preferred to call Kurauone revealed to me that his ending up in the streets is attributed to seizure of his parental home by relatives upon the death of his parents in 2011.
The fate of these streets kids is summed up in David Chifunyise’s song “WIRO” which portrays a crying voice of a child wishing his father has left a will so that he would have been able to continue with his education since he has dropped due to financial constraints.
Writing a will is beneficial and we should not take it for granted. Sometimes I wish God could just allow our fallen heroes and heroines an hour to return on earth and see how their property has been ransacked by greedy relatives.