VIDEO: Rev Gertrude Rwakatare buried in a low key ceremony in Dar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam. Rev Getrude Rwakatare was on April 23 buried in a short farewell at Mikocheni B Assemblies of God Church grounds in the City with not more than 10 people in attendance.
The deceased's body arrived at the 'Mlima wa Moto' church grounds at 11:49 am with police escort vehicles leading the caravan as it entered in the church premises.
The burial went on as announced by Speaker of the National Assembly Job Ndugai in parliament three days ago, with a few mourners out of a hundreds of the late Rev Rwakatare's followers and friends were seen in a sombre mood looking from a safe distance.
Among the 10 people who were allowed in for burial were her closest family members and other government officials who could not be identified.
However, even her close assistants in the church were barred from a burial that didn't last for more than an hour as security was tightened up by the police.
Mr Ndugai made the announcement about the attendants in the burial in an apparent to measures that meant to prevent spread of Covid-19, a pandemic that has suddenly changed the normality of doing things across the world.
"This is strange. Our mother is being buried as if she had no people around. This has made more pain to many of us," Beatrice Ngonyani, 35, a church deacon , told The Citizen on the sidelines of ‘Mlima wa Moto’ Church.
"She was an adviser to many of us (women) she encouraged us to do something and not to be as 'goalkeepers' by giving most of us capital to start businesses," Ngonyani added as her eyes welled with tears.
For his part, Mr Musa Balihuta, 45, put the blame to Covid-19 as it has led to 'abnormal' farewell to Rev. Rwakatare.
"We hoped that we could mourn our mother and mentor in a normal way. We wanted to celebrate her 69 years as a mother to many Tanzanians, unfortunately she has gone a time when the country is under attack by coronavirus, that has restricted gatherings," Mr Balihuta said.
Rev Rwakatare, who was a Member of Parliament, an entrepreneur, a religious leader and a politician, died at the age of 69 at Rabininsia Memorial Hospital in the early hours of Monday, April 20 after a short illness.
