Family awaits court ruling on mining giant wanting to remove body from burial site

A Mpumalanga family is patiently waiting for the outcome of the court case in which it is trying to stop a mining giant that allegedly wants to exhume the remains of a relative buried at its homestead.

The squabble between the Bhuda family and the Mafube Coal Mine started in 2019, when the mine bought the Nooitgedacht farm in Middelburg and ordered the families to relocate to make way for mining activities that were about to take place in the area.

Other families agreed to move but the Bhuda family and a few others refused to relocate, claiming the move would affect their livestock businesses.

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Since then, the mine and the family with their lawyers have been negotiating on how to settle the matter.

Burial dispute

Speaking to The Citizen yesterday, Bhuda family spokesperson Rose Bhuda said the new fight started around April after they buried their 90-year-old father, while the mine was opposing the funeral.

“The matter was heard in court and now we are waiting for the verdict,” said Bhuda.

“Now it has been almost two months, but the outcome has not been released.

“What happened is that soon after my father was buried, the officials from the mine arrived and told us we were not supposed to bury him at our homestead.

“They offered to give us R50 000 and hire buses for us if we agreed to bury him in the cemetery out of the farm. At the time, he was already buried and we refused to exhume the remains.

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“My father was very traditional and when he was still alive requested that when he passed on we must bury him in his cattle kraal.

“Now, the mine has obtained an interim court order allowing it to exhume the remains of my father without our permission. But our lawyers opposed the granting of the final court order.”

She said her family was praying every day that the court release a verdict that would enable them to protect the grave of their father.

The Citizen has seen e-mails and letters in which Werksmans Attorneys, representing the mine, were communicating with Marweshe Attorneys, Bhuda’s legal representatives, about the court case.

According to the documents, the parties failed to reach an out-of-court agreement and the matter was heard in the Land Claims Court in Randburg on 29 April. Judgment was reserved.

Blasting another issue

It is not the first time the mine has clashed with the communities as last week the department of minerals and energy released an investigative report clearing the mine on allegations that the mine’s blasting sessions were damaging houses in the vicinity.

It is also facing another allegation in which families allege that it exhumed and relocated several graves of their relatives without their consent.

One of the families has reportedly opened a case at the Middelburg police station. Speaking during a virtual interview last week, Mafube’s Bontle Mofolo denied that a case was open against them about the exhumed graves.

Mpumalanga police spokesperson Colonel Donald Mdluli, however, confirmed that there was a case opened against the mine.