Old Madala’s Body Stolen From Grave

A FAMILY got the shock of their lives when they found the body of Madala Philemon had disappeared from the grave a year after his burial when they wanted to erect a tombstone.

The Masedi family discovered that a hole had been dug at the gravesite, the coffin had been opened and the body was missing.

The 83-year-old madala died in January last year after a short illness. He was buried in the same month.

It was to be a happy event as the erection of tombstones is supposed to be – but the family members were confronted with a dreadful scene, worse than they could not have imagined, Daily Sun reports.

The family members from Senakwe Village in Mokwakwaila outside Tzaneen, Limpopo, went to the graveyard to prepare the site for the unveiling on Saturday, 11 February, when they realised that bricks from the grave were removed.

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They looked closely and found a hole dug on the side of the grave and the coffin was left wide open. The corpse was gone.

Madala Philemon’s brother and family spokesman, Malehodi Masedi, said they were looking forward to unveiling the tombstone.

“This is very painful. We don’t know what the people who did this are going to do with my brother’s remains,” he said.

“Are they going to sell the body parts or will they perform rituals to curse our family? The people who did this have disturbed the spirit of madala Philemon and angered our ancestors.”

The family often went to the cemetery to clean and check on it.

“My brother will not rest in peace until we find his remains. We are calling upon anyone with any information to come forward because we really need help,” he said.