Abaphansi bayakhuluma (Ancestors are speaking): a study of grave violations in South Africa

Abstract

South Africa stands as one of the world’s leading producers and exporters of minerals, including gold, coal, platinum group metals, chrome and diamonds. However, this status has been achieved through mining practices that are unsustainable and environmentally destructive. Despite the implementation of legislative measures after 1994, such as the National Environmental Management Act, 107 of 1998 (NEMA), unchecked expansion, inadequate monitoring and minimal land rehabilitation have left vast areas of the landscape scarred and sterile. This article seeks to expose additional forms of negligence and harm by presenting evidence for a series of poorly managed grave relocations in the coal-mined Somkhele in KwaZulu-Natal and the platinum-mined area of Sekuruwe in Limpopo provinces of South Africa. By examining the physical damage to graves and human remains, alongside conducting life-history interviews with affected communities, this article explores the multiple forms of violence perpetrated over time by mining corporations and other systems of governance that permit it. The forensic evidence, in this context, grants the ancestors a voice and agency to contest the processes of erasure perpetuated by the extractive industries, the state and traditional leaders.