On Freedom Day this year, the premier, Mr David Makhura, officially declared the grave a provisional heritage site. Barayi, after whom the Elijah Barayi megacity project near Welverdiend has also been named, was a founding member of the National Union of Mineworkers in 1982 and also served as its first vice-president, among other things. He also helped start the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu).
A local councillor, Mr Ben van den Berg, alerted the Herald to the fact that all was not well at the gravesite last week. The tombstone is located in the Carletonville graveyard, Vandals had smashed a glass enclosure on top of the marble headstone of Barayi and his late wife, Nontobeko Reginah, and stole the bronze mining equipment inside. In the process, they also broke off pieces of the marble.
On Monday, the pane of the front window had been thrown onto the front of the gravestone and the window on the right was shattered. Shards of marble were strewn around the site.
Family members of the people who have been buried here have often complained to the Herald that the graves are at risk of being vandalised because the graveyard is not secure.
The Herald asked the Merafong municipality about the issue on Tuesday because the graveyard belongs to them.
‘The gravestone was erected by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). The Municipality is aware of the vandalism and the provincial government is going to declare the grave of the late Elijah Barayi a heritage site on 26 September 2018. The municipality previously erected a steel gate around the cemetery to ensure that the graves are not vandalised. Ironically, community members vandalised the very gate that was supposed to prevent vandalism,’ a municipal spokesperson responded.

The damaged grave.