VANDERBIJLPARK. – The family of Skosana was not prepared to settle for another grave when they were told they could bury their father somewhere else.
This was because the grave they had paid for, to be reserved, had already been filled.

The daughter of the late Jacob and Thandi Nkosana, Julia Skosana told Sedibeng Ster that three days before the actual burial, she had gone to inform the Vanderbijlpark caretaker that they would be conducting the funeral service of their mother over the weekend. She pointed the caretaker, known to Sedibeng Ster, to the grave on May 17. To the surprise of the bereaved family, members arrived at the cemetery to be met by a grave that had been filled up and conferred with fresh flowers.The wreaths indicated that the unknown deceased was a female.

“We arrived an hour late after the other family has completed their burial,” she said. The caretaker alleged that both the deceased had shared a common surname and gender. ” Skosana said the information revealed by one municipal investigation officer had proven to be wrong. She said the manager of cemetery tried to negotiate with the bereaved to accept another grave. He promised that everything would be sorted out soon. He said they would exhume the body for proper reburial. It’s now four months that the family have been taken from pillar to post by the manager.

“The matter is in the hands of our lawyer,” she said. In his telephone interview with Sedibeng Ster, an officer at the department of cemeteries in Vereeniging, said: “I have been communicating with the family on a daily basis. We are in the advanced stages of negotiations.” He wasn’t ‘silent’ on the subject of the inclusion of the local press in the matter, berating the family for contacting us. Stanley Gaba, acting manager communications of Emfuleni Local Municipality, said the exhumation will take place on September 26.