Obey court orders- Shamukuni
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Monday May 1, 2023 06:00
Gaoberekwe died on December 21, 2021 and his body is still lying at Joyce’s Funeral Parlour awaiting the resolution of the dispute regarding his burial site.
His children’s attempts to bury him in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) as per his wish failed because of the Ghanzi District Council’s refusal.
After they tried to resolve their issue with the council and agreed that they will bear the costs, now the Department of Wildlife and National Parks also became part of the matter and blocked the family from burying the deceased in the CKGR.
His children took the matter to court but twice failed to convince the court otherwise. While the District Commissioner had assured Kgosi and the community that the Minister will address the matter, Shamukuni washed his hands, saying, “it’s beyond me since it is a court decision.” In a meeting with Beslag on Wednesday, he said; “I had thought this matter would be addressed because the community is very worried about the body of the late Gaoberekwe, which has been lying in the mortuary for over a year.
We want this matter to be resolved amicably. He is one of our own. It must be clear that the deceased has spent his life at CKGR and has never been a resident of New Xhade. He only came to our village because of his illness. This matter is not sitting well with residents.” He said what worries him the most is that the issue is dividing the residents.
For his part, Minister Shamukuni confirmed that he had gone to New Xhade and other villages around New Xhade and also to CKGR. “I had gone there to familiarise myself with those areas, their cultures and issues around those places. Of course, the issue of the burial of Gaoberekwe came out in some of the meetings, but I had advised them that we cannot go to court. As the government, we had gone there to also check if we are doing some of the things that the court had ordered us to do.
I had pleaded with the residents to always obey court orders. I wanted to be informed with some issues so that if human rights people question me then I will be in a position to answer some of their questions,” Shamukuni said in an interview. The family wants the government to allow them to bury their father in the CKGR. However, the family is that if anyone wants to bury their father in any area outside the CKGR, then they are free to do so.
“As a family, we are not going to take part in any burial of our father, which is outside the CKGR. We do not care if we get arrested or not. The government is free to take that body from the mortuary and we cannot fight for it, but it will be the government’s burial alone,” family spokesperson, Smith Moeti said. Late last year, the family had hinted at appealing the case at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
That was hardly after the Court of Appeal (CoA) had dismissed a case in which the family wanted to bury their late father (Pitseng) in the CKGR. They were ordered to bury the deceased within seven days as per the court's decision. The family had disclosed to Mmegi that it owed Joyce Funeral Parlour over P100,000 for keeping the body at the private morgue.