Angry Limpopo villagers who demanded to know where their family graves were relocated protested peacefully outside the venue where President Cyril Ramaphosa was holding his |imbizo at the Motodi Sports Complex at Ga-Motodi village in the Sekhukhune area on Friday.
According to members of five affected families who spoke to Sunday World, but requested anonymity for fear of victimisation, the graves were moved without their consent to make way for the RH Burgersfort Private Hospital on the R555 road.
“Fortunately, I took pictures of the graves before they were mysteriously removed from this patch of land.
“Those pictures were taken by our political leaders but now when we visit the grave site we can’t find our graves. These are our family members. We need to know where they are so that we can perform rituals.
“We have been asking around but nobody wants to answer any question about where our relatives were taken to. It truly pains us that no one is willing to take any responsibility,” said one family member.
The graves belong to the Mkhondo, Mnisi, Mzimba, Matladi and Phetla families.
The families stated that they were never compensated for the destruction of the graves site.
They said although the land was earmarked for a private hospital, the government allowed for the graves to be removed without their consent.
“My grandfather was buried here in 1961. We suddenly heard that our grandfather’s grave had been removed and we have no idea what happened.
“We fought for this country for many years since we started staying here in 1951. Is this what the ANC government is all about?” asked an elderly man who participated in the protest.
The families wanted to call upon Ramaphosa to hear them out, but they were chucked out when they tried to take their protest into the venue.
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