Date of burial for the CKGR man to be determined
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Monday December 19, 2022 06:00
This time around, the family is planning to appeal its case at the International Criminal Court of Justice. This comes hardly after the Court of Appeal (CoA) dismissed a case in which the family wanted to bury their late father (Pitse) in the CKGR.
The deceased’s remains have been lying in the mortuary since mid-December 2021 pending the finalisation of the court case. As things stand, Gaoberekwe might be buried after Christmas as the family want him interred at an agreed place apart from New Xade.
Mmegi has learnt that the family is yet to meet and discuss the burial area and how they will ensure that the deceased is going to be given a dignified burial. According to a source, “the burial date has not been set.
It is impossible to bury the deceased within seven days as the court has ordered. Currently, the body is at Joyce’s Funeral Parlour in Gantsi, which is far from New Xade or the place where we are planning to bury him.
Again we are still calming the deceased children for them to accept the decision of the court. Some children want the burial to be done after the International Criminal Court of Justice had made its own decision regarding the matter.” Speaking to Mmegi, the family spokesperson Smith Moeti yesterday said: “We are still consulting our attorneys to check if there is a provision in the law which will allow us to exhume the body if we win the matter at the International Criminal Court of Justice. It will be impossible to bury the deceased at the set time.
We owe the mortuary over P100,000 and we had negotiated on how we are going to pay the debts. I believe by tomorrow, we will finalise the issues of the burial area and other logistics.” He, however, said the family and residents of CKGR and New Xade have started to gather in order to prepare for the burial. When reading judgment this week, the justices of appeal ruled that the family had failed to establish any right for their late father to be buried in the CKGR. “The appellant (family) has failed to establish any right either of himself or the deceased to bury the latter in the CKGR. Neither did he challenge the decision by the council and the wildlife department to refuse him to bury the deceased in the CKGR.
This appeal as such is unmerited. The appeal is dismissed with no order as to costs,” the court of appeal judgment read. The background of the matter is that the deceased’s family currently residing in New Xade had informed the court that their father’s last wish was for him to be buried at the CKGR rather than New Xade stating that he had lived his entire life in the reserve.
The family contends that their father moved to New Xade for easy access to health facilities. However, the Gantsi District Council had informed the family that they would not have the resources to assist the family to take the body to the CKGR, but matters turned for the worst when the Department of Wildlife and National Parks disputed his body being taken to the Game Reserve for burial. Initially, the family had applied for an entry permit after they settled out-of-court with the Gantsi District Council.
The latter then took the matter to court seeking an order to bury the deceased in New Xade. The Council wanted Gaoberekwe to be buried in New Xade, but the family opposed this insisting that as per Sesarwa culture, their father has to be buried in the CKGR where he originates. Initially, the High Court had approved the settlement by the two parties which gave the family the green light to enter the CKGR to bury the deceased. However, things took a turn when DWNP made an application before the High Court barring the family entry into the CKGR.