Grave matters: dispossession and the desecration of ancestral graves by mining corporations

Dispossession is characteristically associated with the period of colonialism and apartheid in South Africa. Consequently, not much consideration is given to how the previously marginalised continue to be dispossessed in their everyday lives by coal mining activities in the current political dispensation. The presentation will attempt to reframe dispossession as a perpetual post-apartheid experience in African communities. In this presentation, dispossession does not only encompass events of deprivation and loss of land and property but also covers loss of the incorporeal. Therefore, the relocation of African ancestral graves in Tweefontein (Ogies), is discussed as an aspect of dispossession.

The politics of grave exhumations and relocation illustrates how communities not only lose the material; land, and tombs, but also lose their intangible possessions; identity, heritage and belonging as a result of mining.The SWOP Breakfast Seminar is a platform for sharing new SWOP research with stakeholders inside and outside of the university. Hofmeyr House is a venue that facilitates networking and lively discussion amongst all participants over a full breakfast.

We look forward to seeing you at this and forthcoming SWOP Breakfast Seminars! The full programme for the semester will be out soon. A poster for the seminar, as well as a map indicating the location of Hofmeyr House, are attached.