Reburial commotion

THE reburial of the late SACP stalwart Moses Kotane was almost marred by a revolt by some of his relatives.

The group took offence at not being accredited for the funeral service.

The aggrieved relatives, mostly villagers at Kotane’s home village of Pella in North West, accused their counterparts from Gauteng of selective accreditation and trying to marginalise them from the high-profile funeral service.

President Jacob Zuma had declared the reburial service a special official funeral.

The angry relatives also accused those from Gauteng of living in the lap of luxury like the Mandelas and Sisulus, while the rest of them, mostly from the village, were left out in the cold.

A commotion broke out at the local tribal offices, which were used as the accreditation centre, when a group of irate relatives complained that their names were not on the list of those accredited.

“It’s this kind of thing that makes people to form or join other parties,” shouted a woman who identified herself as Boitumelo Kotane and a great-granddaughter of Kotane.

“We were registered on a list of Kotane’s relatives that was sent to national government last week. Right now, we are told the list hasn’t reached government. How can that be?” she asked.

The officials standing at the entrance of the accreditation centre tried to explain. But this enraged the relatives further.

Another woman, Daisy Kotane, yelled: “First they sent us to the (Kotanes’) house, then here. Now, we are told to go back to the house. It’s ridiculous.”

Another woman, who didn’t want to be identified, said: “They may try to exclude us, but our DNA shows we are the Kotanes.”