GRAVE, TOMBSTONE DISPUTE: CORPSE TO BE EXHUMED

MBABANE – A widow of Gundvwini has rushed to court after being informed that a grave, on which she had erected a tombstone in remembrance of her husband, belongs to a certain woman from the community.

The High Court has since directed the police to exhume the remains from the disputed grave for purposes of conducting a forensic pathology procedure. The order directing that a forensic pathology procedure should be conducted was issued by Principal Judge Qinisile Mabuza. Gugu Idah Jele told the court that during the preparations of an unveiling ceremony that was scheduled for December 2021, Lindiwe Jele informed them that the grave on which they had erected the tombstone belonged to her mother, Lomthandazo Sarah Jele. Respondents in the matter are Lindiwe Jele, Sigombeni Umphakatsi and the national commissioner of the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS).

In her application, Gugu narrated to the court that around 1980, she contracted a Swazi Law and Custom marriage with Joseph Jele who was now deceased. She said they constructed their marital home at Macobolwane in Mbabane and four children were born out of the marriage. The applicant (Gugu) brought it to the attention of the court that around 2001, her husband got ill and passed away. She submitted that her husband was laid to rest at Sigombeni at a Jele family graveyard. “During the funeral, I was unable to see his final resting place as I had been covered with a black cloth as per the custom for a grieving widow,” averred the applicant.   

She recounted that after her husband’s funeral, she requested her mother in-law, Lomandanda Jele, who unfortunately had passed on, to direct her to her (Gugu) husband’s grave. “She duly showed me the grave, which I believed to be my late husband’s final resting place and I would from time to time visit and maintain it,” said the applicant. According to the applicant, in September 2021, with her children they decided to erect a tombstone in remembrance of her husband.

Unveiling

“We bought the stone and it was erected on what we believed to be my husband’s grave. We then prepared an unveiling ceremony which was scheduled for December 2021.The first respondent (Lindiwe) communicated to us that the grave on which we had erected the tombstone belonged to her mother Nomthandazo Sarah Jele,” submitted the applicant. She said the scheduled unveiling was halted on receipt of this information and a family meeting was convened to resolve the matter. The applicant went on to relate to the court that in March 2022, the family met and the issue was deliberated upon. She said it was agreed between the families that the only solution was to engage a forensic pathologist to determine the identity of the deceased person in relation to the two graves which were close to each other. “I hasten to state that this decision was arrived at in consensus, hence we have alluded that no adverse order is being sought against any of the respondents. In fact the present application is premised on the intention to assist all the parties involved to find the truth, closure and accord our departed loved ones the dignity that they deserve in their resting place,” submitted the applicant.

She highlighted that the application she was seeking was for the opening and inspection of the graves for purposes of identifying the body. “I am advised and verily believe that it will be unlawful to desecrate a grave without just cause and without an order of the court, hence the present application,” she argued.  The applicant was represented by Sifiso Jele of S.M Jele Attorneys in Mbabane. In an almost similar matter, the High Court recently stopped the unveiling of a tombstone of a man whose wives are fighting over who was the first wife between them. Judge Nkosinathi Maseko issued an order restraining Dortia Primrose Mncina (nee Dlamini), or anyone acting on her instructions, from conducting the unveiling ceremony of the late Boniface Samuel Mncina’s tombstone.

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