‘No mass graves on farm’
The NPA has confirmed that its task team has found no evidence to support claims of mass burial sites on Glenroy Farm.
|||Durban - The mystery of the alleged mass graves on the South Coast remains buried.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) on Thursday confirmed that nearly a year after claims surfaced of burial sites on a farm near Dududu, its missing persons task team had found nothing.
Glenroy Farm made headlines in March after the provincial government announced the discovery of what were believed to be the graves of prisoners who had worked there as labourers.
At the time, Premier Senzo Mchunu and an entourage of MECs and other leaders were led to the site by sangoma, Makhosi Nonhlanhla “Mshanelo” Nkomo.
Nkomo said she had dreamt of the spirits of people buried on Glenroy Farm.
Her dream and accounts from locals about prisoners buried there prompted Mchunu to ask President Jacob Zuma to institute a commission of inquiry.
A commission was not appointed, but a task team and other law enforcement agencies were asked to investigate.
This week, Mchunu said they were waiting for a formal report on the investigation by the NPA and other authorities.
“We have called for a final report so that we are able to assess whether we can finally conclude the investigation,” he told the media on Wednesday.
But he said possible shortcomings in the investigation had apparently been identified concerning the investigators’ decisions to concentrate on certain sites.
“The outcome of the whole thing is we are not finding these graves so far, as it were,” Mchunu said.
“It is time that they compile their report based on an actual thing. Whether there are still prospects of finding anything or not.”
He said the request for the commission was based on claims made by residents of the area during their visit.
“They expressed knowledge about what had happened on the farm. It reinforced a kind of perception, (but) we are totally dependent on relevant authorities to do their work,” Mchunu said.
Provincial NPA spokeswoman, Natasha Ramkisson-Kara, said on Thursday one of the sites identified as a burial site had been excavated as far as bedrock.
“It was determined that the Glenroy Farm hill (site 1) did not contain any human remains or any indicators of burials,” she said.
The site had been excluded as a burial site, she said.
A second site, on an undulating hill and between what appeared to be small ravines or rivers, had been recently cleared of bush, she said.
“There were no visible indicators of burial sites either formal or informal. No single spot could be identified as a potential burial place.
“No evidence of a mass grave was found,” Ramkisson-Kara said, adding the site did not merit excavation.
She said there were no allegations of burials at a third site, alleged to have housed the prisoners, so the task team had not conducted excavations.
If police investigations produced more detailed information or a possible specific site, spot digs or trenches could be dug.
“At present there is no further engagement by our task team,” Ramkisson-Kara said.
Nkomo could not be reached for comment because her cellphone was switched off.
Daily News