A well-known Zimbabwean retired Anglican cleric, Reverend Lazarus Muyami reportedly shocked the Gokwe community when he buried his late wife inside the chapel of a school.

The man of the cloth buried his deceased wife on Saturday, causing a stir in the community.

Pictures of the burial, with a coffin inscribed “mum”, were being circulated. The coffin was placed near the grave dug inside a church.

According to New Zimbabwe, Muyami had also refused to hand the school over to the church, saying that he was the reason the school was built.

“Although it (school) was built by donations from the UK, he has insisted that he sourced the funds and the church has failed to reclaim the facility from him,” a church insider was quoted as saying.

Many felt the incident would bring a bad omen to the community, a News Day report said.

“The church is a place of worship and even Jesus Christ was not buried in the church, this will bring a bad omen to Gokwe,” Joseph Muganda, one of the church members was quoted as saying.

However, the deceased’s son, Izwi Muyambi, defended the move saying that there was nothing wrong with the burial place as it was a norm in the Anglican and Roman churches.

“There is nothing wrong with burying someone in the church, as it is the norm in the Anglican Church system and my mother’s family were also comfortable with her being buried there,” he reportedly said.