When Miriam Mihlava Mashaba and family members visited the burial site on the outskirts of their village to conduct traditional rites they were shocked to find that the graves of their relatives had been excavated.

“There were two graves of my late husband’s siblings. We used to go to clean around the graves but now there are no more graves, only excavations in the area,” Mashaba told Mukurukuru Media during a recent protest march by residents of Mhinga in Limpopo.

Mashaba was among scores of residents of Mhinga who protested alleged illegal sand mining which they say has caused massive environmental damage and led to the desecration of graves.

They put the blame on village chief Hosi Shilungwa Cedrick Mhinga, a former lawyer and a high-profile chief who represents traditional leaders in Malamulele.

During his address at the funeral service of former minister Collins Chabane in 2015 Mhinga pleaded with former president Jacob Zuma to intervene in a long-standing demarcation battle in Malamulele.

The government later declared the Collins Chabane Local Municipality. Chabane hailed from the area, which is located near the Punda Maria gate of the Kruger National Park.

Mhinga did not respond to several messages to comment on the allegations. Instead, he sent this writer an invitation to a memorial lecture in honour of his late father Adolf Mhinga later this month.

In a memorandum delivered to the Collins Chabane municipality last week, residents from the villages organised under the Mhinga Communities Association said the alleged illegal sand mining has been ongoing since 2005.

They accused Mhinga of operating an illegal sand mining business which had led to the destruction of graves and the environment.

“No community resolution or any other means for a legal mining was done. We are well aware of these facts. The environment around the Mhinga area is so damaged that it will be difficult to rehabilitate it,” said the organisation’s secretary, Winfred Babane.

Limpopo’s MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Basikopo Makamu, has acknowledged receiving the memorandum.

“We are going to sit down to resolve the problem between the community and the senior traditional leader there,” said Makamu.

A 2019 report by the United Nations Environmental Programme noted that the demand for sand mining is rising throughout the world and that the extraction rate is likely to lead to a crisis.

The report, “Sand and Sustainability: Finding new solutions for environmental governance of global sand resources”, notes that the world now needs 50 billion tonnes of sand and gravel per year to meet the increasing demand caused by growing populations, urbanisation and infrastructure development.

“Rivers, river deltas and coastlines are eroding, sand mafias are thriving, and demand is growing,” the report said.

Last month the Cabinet approved the updated National Protected Areas Expansion Strategy and the revised National Biodiversity Framework to “assist in addressing threats to the country’s biodiversity”.

The Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries said the two are important existing policy instruments for the protection of species and ecosystems. 

According to the department, traditional authorities do not have the right to sell sand that is mined from their areas unless they have a permit to do so.

Sand is classified as a mineral and regulated in terms of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (Act No 28 of 2002) and permits for mining sand are only issued by the Department of Mineral Resources.

But Mhinga residents said the sand mining in their area had reached alarming proportions.

Mkachani Thomas Makondo, of Mhinga Zone 1, says his family has lost four graves due to the sand mining.

“The area is known as a burial site, but it is worrying why they could plunder it that way,” he said.

Babane said at least nine families had asked the community structures to get the Mhinga Traditional Authority to intervene after their family graves were destroyed.

“After their graves were destroyed by TLBs [tractor loader backhoes] they approached us as structures but when we approached the chief [Mhinga], instead of being sorry about the incident, he just said they should have fenced the area and erected tombstones.

“What worries us as community structures is that one driver from one truck said when he offloaded the sand, he realised there were human bones,” said Babane.

Elderly resident Miriam Shibambu is worried about the impact the desecration of the graves will have on the families.

“We used to conduct rituals to appease our ancestors at the graves. Now that we have lost the graves it may affect our fortunes as well as the fortunes of  those who demolished the graves,” she said. DM/MC