Skeletal bones crushed with pickaxes and mechanical diggers, findingthe deceased in a state of decay and the loss of graves because ofinadequate markings by the North-Coast Funeral Service (North-Coast)are some of the accounts that coal-affected families in Somkheleprovide. Tendele's undignified exhumations took place without apermit from the KwaZulu-Natal heritage body, Amafa aKwaZulu-Natali(Heritage KwaZulu-Natal), commonly known as Amafa. This is despitethe provision by the provincial and national heritage Acts that nograves can be disturbed without permission from the heritage entityand without consultations with the next of kin. Tendele circumventedthe law with the backing – or ignorance – of the MpukunyoniTraditional Council. As a result, the community suffers fromspiritual insecurity – an existential crisis that emanates from notbeing able to connect with their ancestors, who are mediators oflife and death. The violations of ancestral graves are possiblebecause although the National Heritage Resources Act 25 of 1999(NHRA) and the KwaZulu-Natal Heritage Act 4 of 2008 protect gravesas physical sites, their provisions do not articulate the protectionof the incorporeal cultural beliefs attached to cemeteries.

Somkhele grave relocations, 2008

The grave relocations in Somkhele began in 2008 and, unlike Glencorein Mpumalanga, Tendele did not hire a cultural resource managementcompany to facilitate the consultations. The responsibility toinform individual families was given to Tendele's internal staff, aswell as the headmen and the late Chief Mgeza, who are a part of theMpukunyoni Traditional Council. The company circumvented theKwaZulu-Natal Heritage Act 4 of 2008, which functions distinctlyfrom the rest of the country. The Act succeeded the NationalMonuments Council Act, which established Amafa as a statutory bodyin the former province of Natal. The disadvantage of Amafa is thatit is a self-governing unit and is therefore autonomous. In otherwords, in comparison with other provincial heritage structures,Amafa does not report to the National Resource Agency that wasestablished by the NHRA.