ABSTRACT
Among the Shona people in Zimbabwe, the death of a loved one is a very sad and an emotionally packed moment. The handling of all the burial rituals and logistics are a preserve for the deceased’s relatives. Even with the emergence of funeral insurance policies, the companies offering funeral services have always been guided by the relatives of the deceased in terms of logistical arrangements. Though the culture of busing, feeding and hosting mourners has remained resilient, it has been halted by COVID-19 as it interfaces with the Shona funeral Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices. It is against this background that through the social reconstruction theory as a lens, our chapter evaluates the Shona people’s adjustment to funeral, burial and post-burial practices and procedures in light of the novel COVID-19 management, control and containment measures. Through an inductive, qualitative case study of the vaDuma under Chief Ziki in Bikita, Masvingo, this study applauds the great strides made by the vaDuma community in reconfiguring the death and burial practices. It also urges the community and national leadership to be sensitive to the existing religio-cultural traditions when implementing measures to curtail COVID-19, including when promoting the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines.
