DESTROYED GRAVES: UMPHAKATSI STOPS REBURIALS

MAFUCULA – Hold your horses!

Senior members of the ruling Sifundza clan of KaShewula, have reportedly stopped the reburials of hundreds of bodies whose graves were accidentally destroyed by the Royal Swaziland Sugar Corporation (RSSC). The subordinate Mafucula Royal Kraal had agreed that RSSC should rebury the bodies into one big grave and then construct a monument bearing the names of all the deceased persons, whose graves were destroyed. However, following the objection of some dissenting residents, the main KaShewula Royal Kraal has ordered that the process should be halted, pending conclusions of deliberations between the two traditional structures.

Families

Already, the affected families had performed a ritual (kuphahla), whereby they requested ‘permission’ from the deceased to relocate them into one big grave. The exhumation and relocation of the graves was now expected to commence, however, traditional authorities have decided to halt the process for now. Indvuna (Chiefdom headman) of the main kaShewula Royal Kraal, Silondekela Mavimbela, said the ritual should not have been performed because they had ordered everything to stop. He said the chiefdom was still in mourning following the death of the chief the other year. “We ordered that everything should stop, pending the cleansing ceremony of Emakhosikati (chief’s wives). However, the Mafucula inner-council went ahead and did as they pleased,” he said.

On Friday, senior Princes and Princesses of the ruling Sifundza clan met with the outgoing King’s Liaison Officer (Ndabazabantu) for Lubombo, Lubandze Khumalo. Mafucula inner-council members were also part of the meeting. “We discussed with Ndabazabantu the issue of the destroyed graves and it was agreed that the burials should not proceed for now while traditional authorities sort out some issues,” said a member of the Mafucula inner council. Khumalo (Ndabazabantu) could not be reached for comment yesterday.

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