The North West High Court has ordered a woman who erected a tombstone on a farm in honour of her grandfather two years ago to remove it within a week.
On August 27, judge Andrew Reddy informed the respondent, Christinah Sebolai, that if she fails to remove the tombstone, the sheriff of the court would be directed to do so.
Reddy said Sebolai had failed to convince the court that her grandfather is buried on Wenlie Tsepitsi’s farm called Kokwaan.
The court heard that in August 2022, Sebolai visited the farm in search of her grandfather’s grave. But she was unsure about the exact farm he was
buried on.
Sebolai spoke with the farm manager known as Speedy and informed him that she had been instructed by her family to locate the gravesite and conduct a befitting interment for him.
The court heard that at Kokwaan, there is still a small area where deceased employees or families of employees who previously worked there are buried.
It was also stated that, while the graveyard still exists, it has become incredibly difficult to determine where the respective graves are located. According to the court, the farm owner’s situation was aggravated by the fact that the graves were unmarked, making it even more difficult to identify them.
Speedy allegedly told Sebolai that to the best of his knowledge, there was no grave of her grandfather at Kokwaan. He, however, suggested that Sebolai enquire with the farm’s employees to determine if they knew of the gravesite she was looking for.
The court heard Speedy shared his contact details with Sebolai and asked her to contact him if her search for her grandfather’s grave yielded positive results.
What was quickly underlined by Speedy was that no ceremonial activities would be carried out without his knowledge.
On September 8 or 9 in 2022, Speedy learnt that Sebolai had erected a new tombstone in the graveyard. Speedy informed the court that there was no evidence of a grave near where the tombstone was erected.
He said as farm manager, he would not have authorised the erection of the tombstone for anyone who was not an employee or a relative of an employee on the farm.
He further said he needed to make sure that Sebolai’s grandfather was indeed buried there.
Tsepitsi claimed the erection of the tombstone violated his peaceful position at Kokwaan and that Sebolai had no right or authorisation to erect it there.
Sebolai informed the court she had no intention of contesting ownership of the farm. She said she met with the caretaker, who granted her permission to erect the tombstone on the condition that any plans for an unveiling ceremony of the tombstone be announced to the caretaker.
Her version was that she acted under the Extension of Security of Tenure Act 62 of 1997, which states that any person has the right to visit and maintain his or her family graves on land owned by another person.
This was subject to any reasonable condition imposed by the owner or person in charge of such land, in order to protect life or property or to prevent undue disruption of work on the land.
This legislative provision authorised Sebolai’s actions and negates any perceived unlawful behaviour.
Judge Reddy said Sebolai fell short in providing facts that her grandfather was buried there and gave her 14 days from the date of the order to remove the tombstone. “The sheriff of this court is authorised and directed to remove the said tombstone from the said farm in the event of the respondent failing to comply with the order. The respondent is ordered to pay the costs of this application, which shall include the reserved costs in respect of the previous postponements of 12 October 2023 and 2 November 2023.”
Sebolai’s legal representative, Tebatso Moloto, said he is planning to appeal the judgment.
Sebolai could not be reached for comment.
