A grave concern: Family takes on mining company over exhumations without consent

A Mpumalanga family has opened a case of violation of grave and malicious damage to property against a mining giant for allegedly exhuming the remains of their relatives without consent.

Nurse Masombuka and her family from Nooitgedacht, Middelburg, said the case was opened against the Mafube Coal Mining management for allegedly violating three graves of their family members and burying their remains in a shallow grave without their permission.

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“It is true that we opened the case at Middelburg police station on 27 April. The reason we reported the mine to the police is that they had stopped communicating with us concerning the matter.

Soon after the illegal exhumations in October last year, we confronted them and they had been cooperating until they disappeared early this year,” said Masombuka.

Compensation for incident

She said the mine’s representative promised to assist them in identifying the remains of their relatives and also asked how the Masombukas would like to be compensated.

She said the representatives of the mine cut all communication after they stated that they would like to be paid R50 million per vandalised grave.

The total amounts to R150 million as three graves were reportedly violated.

The family is yet to hear from waiting regarding the progress of the case. Masombuka said they used to visit the graves to conduct rituals.

“The graves that were violated were that of my two sisters and my mother. We used to visit the graves whenever we missed them but now we don’t even know where their remains are. When we inquired from the mine, we were shown a huge open space with tombstones written rest in peace unknown.

“This shows that many families did not agree to the exhumations because if they did, the tombstones would bear the names of the deceased.

“Another painful thing is that before the exhumations the mine contacted us and asked if we had graves on the identified land and we responded that we do but they never got back to us to get consent to relocate the remains,” said Masombuka.

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The Citizen has seen screenshots in which one of the mine’s representatives conceded that they made a mistake by exhuming the remains.

“The graves were not lost, we relocated them to another cemetery. We are willing to talk to the family about how we can fix this problem,” read a WhatsApp text from a Mafube representative, who cannot be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.

When contacted for comment, Mafube spokesperson Hulisani Rasivhaga said she was aware that the family has opened a case concerning the missing graves but she denied that a case was opened against Mafube.

“Mafube can confirm that there was no case opened against the mine by the Masombuka family. However, we are aware that they opened a case relating to the relocation of the graves.”

She said the family had not come forward to identify their relative’s graves.

Mpumalanga police spokesperson Colonel Donald Mdluli has confirmed the case but did not give more information.

“The Saps can confirm that a case of violation of grave and malicious damage to property was registered and the investigation is ongoing. Currently, the case was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions for a decision. The investigating officer updates the complainant in terms of the progress of the case,” said Mdluli.

Cultural expert Gakwi Mashego, who is an executive member of the Oral History Association of Mpumalanga, said: “Removing graves without following proper procedure is a serious violation of the rights of the affected families. Graves are sacred to many families.”