Graveyards are sacred places and bereaved families spend fortunes to bury their loved ones.

In Vhembe, a shocking and disrespectful tendency is brewing, whereby angry people vent their anger on gravesites and sometimes go to the extent of vandalizing them. Not long ago, six very expensive gravestones were damaged at the Mphego royal burial site at Mphego village some kilometres from the town of Thohoyandou.

At the weekend, the community of Maniini was greeted by an unpleasant and disturbing incident when 382 graves, almost the entire graveyard, with a combined value of R2,8 million, was in complete disarray, with tombstones and graves severely damaged.

It is believed a local man who has a history of mental illness is behind the attack. It is alleged that the man said he was looking for his late mother's grave. It turned out that his late mother was not even buried at the graveyard.

This has irritated the community who, after the funeral of a local man, had an impromptu meeting and vowed that if the local traditional leadership did not take strong action against the alleged perpetrator and his family, they would take the law into their own hands.

News of the vandalizing of the graves filtered through the previous night, and early in the morning, suspecting families were already at the graveyard.

Some of those who arrived early were families who were there to unveil the tombstones of their loved ones over the weekend and those who were there to bury their loved ones. They wanted to make sure that everything was still intact to avoid disappointment.

This paper arrived early and found funeral undertakers and families repairing damaged gravestones before the burial and unveiling. Quite a sizeable number of curious community members were milling around the graveyard.

Eyewitnesses who spoke on condition of anonymity said they heard some noises at the graveyard just after the braodcast of SABC 2’s Muvhango soapie. “We heard noises coming from the graveyard and decided to notify our neighbours, but they were too afraid to go out. After a while, we gathered courage and went to the graveyard. There we found a man, whom we identified as a local who is mentally disturbed, busy destroying the graves. We called the police, who later came but did nothing to stop the man,” said a villager.

At a hastily convened meeting at the graveyard, community members vowed not to let the matter rest without strong action being taken against the man and his family. “We do not want them here in this community. They should move out of our village in peace, or we will take the law into our own hands. We have had enough of this man who has been terrorizing this community, with the police and his family not doing anything or taking him for mental care. We have lost a lot of money in erecting beautiful tombstones for our departed loved ones, and this man has the nerve to destroy them all in one night,” said one angry resident.

Maniini central civic spokesperson Mr Vickson Matevha blamed the police for the whole incident. “Our people reported the matter to the police while the alleged suspect started breaking the tombstones, but the police did nothing to stop him. We have lost a lot in this incident. I have four relatives here and all their gravestones have been vandalized,” he said.

The police later arrived and the whole community went in search of the culprit, who was found in another part of the village. The police took him away before the angry community could meet out instant justice on him.

Thohoyandou police spokesperson Major Mashudu Malelo confirmed the incident, saying they had opened a violation-of-graves docket.

"We are gravely concerned about the actions of the community, who beat the suspect after a citizen's arrest. Luckily, our police were nearby to rescue him from the angry mob," said Malelo. He warned them against taking the law into their own hands as they would also be guilty of an offence.