Ancestors are also dispossessed for coal mining. In other words, theylose their place of rest too and so the struggle of the livingagainst extractivism and dispossession is also the struggle of ‘thedead’. This is evident in the accounts of the exhumation and thereburial of ancestral graves in Tweefontein by the heritageconsultants, Professional Grave Solutions (PGS) on behalf ofGlencore mine. For both actors, cemeteries stand in the way ofprofit-making and thus the relocations of graves are a commercialactivity. The disregard for the communities’ cultural rights and thedisrespect of their ancestors is evident in the company's offer of aR1 500 ‘wake-fee’ to families after the removal of their individualgraves. Fundamentally, this illustrates that the contestations overthe relocations are a result of the exploitation of the inherentgaps and contradictions in the mineral and heritage laws, as well asthe lack of compensation guidelines for the grave relocations.

Commercialising the sacred

In 2013, I began to investigate the contestations over grave siteremovals in Tweefontein (in Ogies) by Glencore. A year later, Icontacted the heritage consultants, PGS, who had been contracted bythe previous owners of the mine, Xstrata PLC to facilitate the graverelocations, to request records of their mining operations, theaffected farms and the affected graves. In a meeting with therepresentatives of PGS and the mining company in June 2014, bothparties agreed to share their records with me on the condition thatI put my research on hold for a year to prevent the disruption ofthe relocation process. Although it was not explicitly stated, theconcern was that during interviews, I would conscientise thefamilies and make them think thoroughly and critically about thedemands of the company. After the agreement, I secured an interviewwith the director of the heritage management company, but he and mycontact within Glencore stopped being responsive a few months later.Concerned about time constraints, I turned to the South AfricanHeritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) and its Burial Grounds and Gravesunit, which archives documents such as the applications submitted byPGS for the relocations. The applications and the impact assessmentreports are public documents and were, therefore, obtained indigitised format from the South African Heritage ResourcesInformation System (SAHRIS).