Hundreds of communities around South Africa stand to lose their connection to their ancestors as traditional graves are relocated to make way for development.
Ancestral graves are protected under various laws and, in the case of those older than 60 years, a permit is needed from the South African Heritage Resource Agency to exhume the remains for reburial elsewhere.
Benjamin Saccaggi, a master's student in archaeology, knows of at least six sites in Limpopo - with between 50 and 150 graves each - that have been identified for possible relocation.
At one of these, in Sekuruwe, the remains of 149 people were exhumed two years ago to make way for a mine dam and have still not been reinterred. Saccaggi said the company tasked with the initial exhumation did so without the necessary precaution required when dealing with such delicate graves. In the process, some remains were lost and archaeologists are now piecing together hundreds of bits of bones before finally laying the remains to rest.
"This is sheer disrespect for human dignity. In one case they exhumed the body and put it in a black bag and gave it to the daughter," said Saccaggi.
Saccaggi, who is presenting a lecture on the topic at the University of the Witwatersrand's Origins Centre this week to raise awareness of the problem, described traditional graves as those found in rural areas.
The graves are not as deep as conventional ones. They are not clearly marked - bodies are buried under trees or next to stones; there are no coffins, and the bodies are not buried in the east-to-west position.
In the Sekuruwe community, some of the remains recovered were up to 150 years old - and there are still descendants who tell stories about those ancestors.
One community leader, James Shiburi, pointed out his forefathers' remains, but those went missing during the initial exhumation process.
"He's a very traditional person who once said to me that it's his church, he goes there to pray," said Saccaggi.
Shiburi, named after his grandfather, who was buried in the 1940s, said he was "lost" since their remains went missing.
Shiburi, 65, told the Sunday Times it was part of his culture to visit the graves during certain rituals to communicate with the ancestors, the "messengers to God".
"They have to protect us from bad luck, from sickness, from accidents. They must give us luck and rain. Since these things have been happening, we don't know where we are," he said.
Sven Ouzman, a senior lecturer in the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of Pretoria, said grave relocation was common around the world - including a grave in Pretoria of a white family that had to be moved because of the Gautrain - but that rural communities seemed to be getting the "short end of the stick".
"Ancestors are believed to be around but stronger in certain places, one being graves. Your conduct to them influences how they intervene or not in your daily life," Ouzman said.
Saccaggi said those who agreed to have graves relocated would need to conduct ceremonies upon reburial to appease the "very depressed" ancestors who were "lost because they don't know where their bones are".
Author: Karen Van Rooyen | Source: Times Live [October 10, 2010]