Mass grave may be a damp squib
Sangoma Bongekile 'Mshanyelo' Nkomo said that the 'suffering' of about 100 people buried in the grave had come to her in a dream.
SKEPTICS might well be proved right after Provincial Government sources are now reported to say the mass grave find – by a sangoma – in Dududu months ago was nothing but a wild goose chase.
Sangoma Bongekile ‘Mshanyelo’ Nkomo, from Msinga, said at the time that the ‘suffering’ of about 100 people buried in the grave at Glenroy Farm, now owned by Illovo, had come to her in a dream.
KZN Premier Senzo Mchunu took her seriously and led a delegation of politicians and officials to the site with photographs being splashed in newspapers around the world.
Even President Zuma himself demanded that he personally be kept informed.
At the time, provincial government said it believed the grave contained bodies of prison labourers used as slaves by the farmer of the day in the 50s, 60s and 70s.
The site was declared out-of-bounds to the press while a task team assisted by forensic experts and sniffer dogs went to investigate last week.
The Sunday Times reported on Sunday that a source had confirmed: “There was no evidence of a mass grave. There is no doubt that the use of cheap prison labour on private white farms was widespread… some died in the process.”
He is reported to have said while there were some graves on the farm, they were the usual burial sites for labourers.
No official comment was available at the time of writing.
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