TOPIC:

IOL (Independent Online), 21 May 2012

Military graves desecrated by relic hunters

See full article here: IOL



“Provincial heritage group Amafa believes that robbers dug up a grave at the Intombi Camp Military Cemetery near Ladysmith in order to get to buttons and badges, which would then be sold to collectors”

This has been going on for years. When I first visited the site in 1978 many of the graves had been desecrated. Back then there was the misguided belief that soldiers were buried with valuables. From my experience of working on exhumations in the Ladysmith area, I have found that the acidic nature of the Natal soil generally corrodes metals, making badges and buttons near worthless.


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Appalling!!

I have read accounts where comrades would take the slouch hat badges etc from their fallen comrades as a memento of their mate, perhaps to pass on to family.
So, there may be nothing in the grave anyway!

Graverobbing, a very foul practice!!

This postcard gives one an idea of how imposing Intombi cemetery once was, before it was cleared and reduced to a single line of (now mostly damaged) memorials.
The positions of the headstones no longer correspond to actual graves, so the grave robbers mentioned above probably found little more than South African dirt.




Courtesy of Roll-of-Honour.com



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Another view of Intombi Cemetery, photographed by Middlebrook, Durban.

"Bird's eye view of the Intombi Camp Cemetery - Boer War 1899 - 1900"



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The most valuable material in the Intombi graves are human bones which traditional healers (sangomas) use for traditional medicine (muti). This goes on sporadically all over the country, See e.g.
www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/20...-up-graves-for-muti/
www.news24.com/news24/muti-link-suspecte...ave-robbery-20170112

but is preferable to 'muti murders' :
forensic-psychologist.co.za/wp-content/u...outh-Africa-2004.pdf

Rob,

Back in 1978 the ground was littered with small tinfoil packets, which I was told contained human remains that had been deposited there by "witch doctors" as part of some form of healing ritual.
I thought it best not to open one to confirm or disprove this supposition.

Neville