SiteRecordings

The site is represented by between thirty (30) and (50) graves, although the dense vegetation made determining the correct number difficult. Only two (2) of the graves have formal headstones with inscriptions, with a third 3 rd one demarcated with cement with the headstone missing. The other graves are all stone-packed. The two graves with headstones indicated the deceased as (1) Joseph Ramogotjie, who was born in 1870 and who died in 1953 and (2) difficult to read, but the person seemed to have been born in 1922 and passed away in 1945. Both these graves are therefore older than 60 years of age and protected by the National Heritage Resources Act. It is assumed that the other (as yet unknown) graves also date to more than 60 years ago. Graves always carry a High Cultural Heritage Significance rating and should preferably be protected and not impacted by any development. The best practice would be to steer clear of the grave site and fence it in to ensure its protection. The site should then be managed through a Heritage Management Plan. Although the site is located (based on the footprint of the Site 3 area) outside of direct impact, there could be some indirect impacts on it as a result of the proposed development. It is therefore recommended that the site be properly cleaned, the graves on it recorded in detail and a Graves Register be drafted and the site fenced-in properly. Finally, if the development cannot avoid the grave site then the option to exhume and relocate the graves does exist. This will entail detailed and extensive social consultation to try and locate any possible descendants of the deceased and to obtain consent for the exhumations and relocations. Once this has been done various permits will have to be obtained before the work is conducted.