Reports of a landslide which has been ebbing away at parts of the Mokhotlong district came as a shock of insurmountable degrees.
Worse is the fact that it is affecting gravesites especially that far inland to the very traditional and conservative of our people, who accord greatest levels of respect and reverence especially to the dead.
The recent torrential rains that have ravaged throughout the country left the residents of Thaba-Ntšo in the Mokhotlong district in a state of shock as graves went agape as a result of land sliding.
This was disclosed by the Mokhotlong District Administrator (DA) Serame Linake who raised an alarm to Mokhotlong community in regard to the surging rains. He said the land is flooded thus cracking open into huge dongas valleys which tear and ebb away at land including by gravesides.
“The heavy rains started to wash-away the soil and opening cracks that exposed corpses outside two tombs,†said Linake.
He said the graveyard is under threat and will need be relocated as some eight more graves are reported to have gone awash with corpses washed down the Senqu River.
“I have just received another message that there are two corpses found in the river as the six others are still missing,†he said adding the that two corpses cannot be identified due to their state of decompose and shall be buried again without family ceremonies.
“We are afraid that if the rains keep on increasing we will face more damage and our people’s lives are at stake especially those who are close to the valley or river banks,†he said.
The hunt for the eight missing bodies has meanwhile begun.
This account is trauma of the highest imaginable state.
However, be that as it may, there is very little that the residents can do if the cleft cracking in the ground is approaching the residential area having already ravaged the gravesite.
What we can only hope for is that the Disaster Management Authority can help ameliorate the dwelling situation for the residents while the area comes to terms with relevant mitigation measures to arrest the situation which is one of the faces or culmination of climate change.
