RSSC TLB DESTROYS HUNDREDS OF GRAVES

MHLUME – A TLB commissioned by the Royal Swaziland Sugar Corporation (RSSC) to clear a piece of land has accidentally destroyed hundreds of graves.

The graves are located right within sugar cane fields in an area between Mhlume, Simunye and Ngomane.  The area used to be occupied by residents who were resettled in the mid-80s to make way for the expansion of RSSC sugar cane fields.

The resettled families left the area and there was reportedly an agreement with RSSC to the effect that the graves would not be relocated.

Accidentally

About two weeks ago, an RSSC TLB that was clearing a piece of land next to the graveyard accidentally destroyed the graves.
“The driver of the TLB was busy clearing the land when he noticed what looked like a cross in the rubble. When he inspected the place, he discovered that he had split open rocks covering hundreds of graves,” said a source. RSSC management was quickly informed of the incident and all works at the site were ordered to stop. A representative of the company was then sent to inform Mafucula residents about what had happened.

Senior community members and representatives of some of the families whose graves had been destroyed went to the graveyard to inspect the damage.
Some of the people who visited the site said they did not see any human bones except for debris of mini tombstones and rocks which had covered most of the graves.

“The heavy machinery was only removing the top soil and the vegetation. If there had been any digging, human skeletons would have been scattered all over the place,” stated a man whose family graves were also destroyed. RSSC has apologised to the community and the company has told affected families that this was an accident.

However, some of the affected families told this reporter that it was incomprehensible how the supervisors of the TLB driver would not have alerted him about the presence of graves in the area.

“For over three decades, RSSC management has not cleared that area because they knew that there are graves there. It boggles the mind how all of a sudden somebody forgets this,” said a man, whose family graves were destroyed.
RSSC Public Affairs Manager, Sifiso Nyembe insisted that this was an accident.

“Initial internal investigations indicate that this was a genuine accident to the extent that some of our own employees from all hierarchical levels are personally affected by the unfortunate incident as their own relatives were also buried in the area. It is unlikely that they would have deliberately done this to their own,” Nyembe stated.

He added that preliminary investigations suggested that ‘the profile of the landscape was extremely tricky, with vegetation in the area heavily overgrown, thus impeding clear visibility’.

Regrettable

“We need to say that the incident is deeply regrettable and we have expressed our empathy to the affected community. We are in ongoing engagement with the affected members of the community to seek an amicable resolution to this issue,” Nyembe added.
Traditional authorities of Mafucula were not immediately available for comment.

A member of the chief’s inner-council declined to comment on the matter, referring all questions to the headman.
However, the headman could not be reached for comment and he reportedly doesn’t have a cellphone.

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