Court orders Gaoberekwe progeny to pay P16,500 security
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Tuesday September 20, 2022 06:00
The body of Gaoberekwe, now nine months awaiting burial in a morgue at Joyce's Funeral Parlour, is the subject at the centre of the dispute between the government and the deceased's progeny regarding a tussle over a burial site that remains unresolved.
Gaoberekwe died on December 21, 2021, and his remains await a resolution on whether his last wishes will be granted. The family wants to appeal a case in which they want to bury the body of their father at the CKGR (Central Kalahari Game Reserve) after losing at the Gaborone High Court.
“Our attorney has informed us that the Registrar of the High Court has written to him, requiring us to pay the sum of P16,500 as security for costs and typing records for us to be able to appeal. We are stuck too. We only hope we can pay for that. I will have to talk to some members of the family about the issue to find ways in which we could raise the money.
This issue is dragging and it is very painful for the family members of the deceased. The most painful thing is that the deceased is the one who wanted his body to be buried at the CKGR,” family spokesperson, Smith Moeti told The Monitor on Friday.
According to Moeti, his uncle lived out his life in the CKGR, only staying at New Xade to get closer to the hospital for medical attention as there are no health facilities in the reserve.
The problems for the Gaoberekwes started when the children of the deceased, who were registered under the social welfare programme in New Xade village, requested that their father's remains be moved to CKGR where he resided for years before he was taken to New Xade due to health conditions. The deceased's children want their father's burial rites performed at CKGR as per his final wish.
The government has persistently denied the family permission to allow for Gaoberekwe's remains to be interred in the CKGR.