LICHTENBURG - A quest for closure for one family has thrown Boikhutso’s cemetery in Lichtenburg, North West and countless other families into chaos and heartache.
The families claim graves were disturbed and their dignity upended during an exhumation process conducted by the North West Department of Health after it got a court order in June 2023 to dig up graves, searching for a man missing from the old Thusong Hospital.
It was suspected that he had died and received a pauper’s burial at this cemetery.
However, families say the process has left the cemetery in disarray, with some unable to identify the graves of their relatives.
Mmakhumo Moja’s family is among those affected.
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She says both her parents’ graves have since vanished, lost in the shuffle. They found the graves disturbed, soil scattered and headstones missing.
"We want our graves, and we want to know exactly where they are located. After the exhumation, we were supposed to come and clean up, but we didn't know whose graves we were cleaning. When we're supposed to do some of our cultural rites at the grave, it's a problem.
“When you carry out traditional rituals, you have to come to the ancestors and engage them. But the place is a mess; it's dug up, and there are holes everywhere,” Moja said.
The North West Health Department spokesperson Tebogo Lekgethwane insists it consulted some families ahead of the dig, and flat-out denies leaving the cemetery in shambles.
But three years on, the cemetery is still in a mess, and the family’s still waiting.
They’re holding out for answers, longing for restoration, and just a little respect for their dear departed.
eNCA Bafedile Moerane filed this report.