A prominent South African politician who passed away last week was laid to rest in his Beloved Mercedes limousine instead of a regular casket, as per his last wish.
Tshekede Bufton Pitso, a former leader of the United Democratic Movement (UDM) in Eastern Cape, died last week, after collapsing in his driveway as he was making his way to his second-hand 1990s Mercedes E500 limousine. The former businessman had once had an entire fleet of luxurious Mercedes cars, but was forced to sell them in recent years, after falling on hard times. He did manage to buy a used E500, and even though it had broken down and couldn’t be driven, he still enjoyed spending time in it and listening to the car radio. It was his favorite thing in the world and he even told his family he wanted to be buried in it when his time came. Last weekend, they honored his wish.
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A popular leader in East Cape, Chief Pitso was known as a flamboyant but staunch supporter of the UDM and people showed up in droves to attend his unusual funeral, despite the Covid-19 lockdown. The parlor in charge of the funeral told members of the press that honoring the wishes of the family in regards to the unusual coffin was difficult and stressful.
“We have never had such a request before to be buried in a car and it was a difficult and stressful task to undertake,” Thabiso Mantutle, director of the Phomolong Funeral Parlor, said. “We had to make sure we had all the correct measurements to completely bury the car and to construct the ramp to get it in the grave and get all the correct paperwork done.”
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Photos taken at the bizarre funeral show Tshekede Bufton Pitso in the driver seat of his beloved Mercedes, with the seat belt on and his hands on the wheel, as a number of people struggle to slowly lower the vehicle into the eight-feet-deep grave dug by an excavator on the Pitso family’s burial plot.
“My father was once a wealthy businessman and had a fleet of Mercedes cars but towards the end he hit on hard times and they went,” Tshekede’s 49-year-old daughter, Sefora Letswaka, told journalists. “About two years ago he bought himself a second hand Mercedes Benz. It wasn’t long before it broke down but he still spent much of his time in it outside the house. He couldn’t drive it but that was where he was happy and spent much of his time sitting behind the wheel.”
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“He said when the time came he wanted to be buried in it. We listened to him and honored his wish and hope he is happy looking down on us,” Sefora added.
Apparently, burying people in cars is not entirely unheard of in Africa. A couple of years ago, we wrote about a Nigerian man who honored his father by burying him in a $90,000 brand new BMW X5, and five years ago, another Nigerian businessman buried his mother in a Hummer SUV.
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