Johannesburg – War has erupted between the president of Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa, chief Lameck Mokoena, and the family that buried their relative in their yard without permission from the tribal authority.
The fight reportedly started after the Malapani family, based in Marite village, Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, buried their relative in their yard a few days ago.
On Wednesday this week, the Mathibela Tribal Authority under chief Mokoena’s leadership summoned the family to the tribal court to explain their actions.
As the family was still grieving they asked two women, who are family friends, to represent them. But when the women arrived, they were reportedly detained and the family was ordered to immediately pay a fine of R20 000.
“The women, one of whom has a disabled child that was left alone at home, were forced to stay at the tribal authority from 10am until six in the evening the same day.
“The problem is that we did not have the money to pay the fine as we already used a lot of money preparing for the funeral.
“This happened even though we asked for their permission and they did not respond, and so we continued with the funeral,” said Thandi Malapani, a family member.
Sunday World has been reliably informed that the women were released after a family member, who is a well-known businesswoman and also a prominent member of the ANC, phoned chief Mokoena and ask him to release them.
When contacted for comment, Thelma Mokoena, one of the detainees, said: “It is true that we were ordered not to leave the tribal court until the fine was paid.
“They did not beat us or abuse us, we were just sitting there. I have forgiven them already because what happened is now in the past”.
Another family member, who asked not to be named for fear of being victimised, said his father was buried at home because there were already 14 other graves in the yard, saying the deceased had asked to be buried next to the graves of the family elders in the yard when he passed on.
“I asked the chief to quote the act that prohibits us from burying our people at home but he failed to do so.”
In 2011, chief Mokoena announced that he would no longer allow the burial of relatives at home, saying this practice would disrupt development, as the graves would have to be exhumed to make way for developmental infrastructure. He gave the example of families in Marite who are refusing to move graves to make way for the construction of a R200-million shopping complex.
Sunday World has been reliably informed that the project has not yet started as the families continue to protect the graves.
When contacted for comment, chief Mokoena conceded that the family was ordered to pay R20 000.
“We met with community members and agreed that we will no longer allow people to have graves in their yards. A conclusion was reached that whoever breaks that agreement must pay a fine.
“We are not going to force the family to exhume the grave because in our culture we respect the deceased.”
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