Graves “dug up” in Foxhill

An attempt to install fibre optic cables in the Foxhill area turned gruesome when contractors were accused of digging up the remains of skeletons.

A group of people who said they lived in the area about 30 years ago were outraged and demanded compensation after their family member’s grave was allegedly partly dug up last week by contractors employed to lay fibre-optic cable.

Family member Lizen Manzi told the Courier that one grave belonging to his great grandmother had been vandalised by the contractors. He claimed there were about six other graves along the road between Sizani Combined School and Linc Church belonging to previous Foxhill families. A refuse collection building had been placed over some of the graves.

“My family used to live in Foxhill and they were forced to move to the compounds during the apartheid years.

“There was a concrete block around my great grandmother’s grave site and one of my relatives who heard what was going on told the contractors to not dig trenches because people were buried there.

“They continued and my relatives and other families who lived in Foxhill back in the day were forced to go there and put a stop to the disrespect.”

Manzi said his family planned to move the remains to a family farm where they would be safe.

“It is clear that the remains of our relatives are not respected and not safe there. First, there was a dump site on top of them and now they dug up a grave just so that people could have wifi. The contractors say they are not responsible but whoever is responsible must come forward and pay for the cost of moving the grave. I do not yet know how much that would cost. We also need to do a traditional ceremony at the site. If I could afford to pay for the grave to be relocated, I would have because I want nothing to do with people who cannot respect the dead.”

The group was under the impression that Linc Church was responsible for hiring the contractors, however, Linc’s Simon Taylor said they were not involved.

“We have spoken to the people who are responsible for ordering the trenches, DFA (Dark Fibre Africa). According to them, planning permission was received from the council and DFA will arbitrate the matter. Respectfully this is not a matter for Linc Church or the residents of Ezulwini Estate or Foxhill residents – it is not land owned by Linc Church or Ezulwini Estate. The police were contacted and are working with the affected families to resolve the issue.”

Goodwill Plumbing and Civils supervisor Nandha Siva said they were forced to stop working for two days after a group of about 20 people threatened them.

“We did not know there were graves here as it was not on the area plan from KwaDukuza municipality. We did not dig deep enough to reveal the remains of the person and for now, all we can do is cover the grave up with sand.”

Ward 22 councillor Malcolm Hubner said he was working with all parties involved to resolve the issue. He confirmed that the grave sites had not been marked nor were they listed on the municipality’s area plan.

Captain Vinny Pillay said the police could not open a criminal case.

“We can assist during the communication process between the parties but this is not a police matter and we cannot see that any law has been broken.”

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