Reporting for duty on Youth Day at the Forderville Graveyard, a security guard made a disturbing discovery. Two grave sites had been tampered with.

Alerting management, calls were made to the funeral parlour to identify the family whose loved one’s grave site was dug up.

Once the family members were notified, they arrived at the Forderville Graveyard with representatives from the police and local municipality. Both head stones were desecrated. One that had a temporary cross was broken in half and close to it was a drop of dried blood.

A neighbouring grave was dug up and coffin screws were strewn all around it. A bowl, a black box, red flowers, a red handmade doll, chalk sticks, plastic toys, henna, a car key and chain attached to a red rubber heart were discovered near one of the graves.
An Estcourt family that buried their mom a month ago, stood staring into the dug up grave, uncertain if their mom’s remains are in the grave. It evoked many emotions.

“When laying our mother to rest with dignity, one does not expect to get any calls from the funeral parlour bearing such news and then to hear about the creepy things that were found…” said one of the family members, outraged with anger.

“I am p*ssed off with the service we get from the municipality. These people who have dug up the graves have no respect for the dead,” said the very emotional, deceased’s daughter.

According to the family, no security was on site and they were furious, adding that the graveyard was in a poor state. They mentioned that on the day of the funeral, they had to repair a water leak before conducting the burial. It was believed that the family, together with authorities, revisited the cemetery yesterday to check if the remains of the elderly woman are still in the coffin.

The second family confirmed that a minor’s grave was tampered with and did not want to discuss the matter further, saying it is a sensitive family matter.

An unofficial source said that this incident is not just pure vandalism and pointed to something more sinister. Since the incident, the Forderville Community Policing Forum has increased patrols in that area. Despite numerous attempts to get an official statement from the local municipality, none was received at the time of going to print.

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According to a police report, nothing has been stolen from either of the graves. “Estcourt police are investigating a case of violation of graves after it was discovered that graves at the Forderville cemetery had been tampered with on Friday, June 16.

“No one has been arrested. From information available to us at this time, it does not appear as if anything was removed from the graves but our investigation into the matter continues,” said police spokesperson Captain Charmaine Struwig.

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