Some members of Durban’s Zanzibari community say they are “outraged and violated” after the Juma Musjid Trust (JMT) allegedly removed tombstones, signs and other markers from graves at the Bluff’s King’s Rest cemetery.
The Zanzibaris — descendants of freed slaves rescued from Arab traders in the late 1800s — were first settled on the Bluff in 1873, where they built a makeshift mosque and a cemetery that became the bedrock of their identity.
In 1963, apartheid’s Group Areas Act forced them out, scattering families — mostly to the Indian-dominated Chatsworth and a few to the nearby township of Wentworth. After 1994, they fought back by lodging a claim through the Land Claims Commission.
In 2003, the commission validated the Zanzibari community’s claim and a formal handover was done in 2004. Over 190 Zanzibari families were given title deeds to 43ha of land at King’s Rest on the Bluff, marking the formal restitution of property from which they had been forcibly removed.
However, the JMT retained ownership of the King’s Rest mosque and cemetery, an area of about 2.6ha. The trust conceded the rest of the land during the restitution process, after a government payout.
Wakefield Properties manages this on behalf of the JMT. It recently issued letters restricting the Zanzibari community’s rights to the cemetery and its adjacent mosque.
Now, two decades after the Zanzibaris reclaimed their Bluff land through the Land Claims Commission, they have accused the trust of vandalism — which, they claim, started in February — and desecrating their family graves and erasing their heritage. The trust denies these claims, and says its intention was to clean and maintain the area.
Zanzibari community leader Alpha Franks said what had happened to the graves in the cemetery struck at the heart of their identity.
“All my family members lie here,” he said. “We’ve had to recycle graves to bury younger relatives. For the trust to desecrate these graves and then terminate our rights is unlawful and an affront to our past.
“We are consulting our lawyers, as we intend to stop the JMT from doing this and denying us access to the cemetery and the mosque at King’s Rest.”
Jiniki Frazer, 70, said she could no longer recognise her family’s graves.
“My grandmother, mother, brother, uncles, aunts — all are buried there. My mother’s grave cage was thrown aside, my brother’s tombstone discarded. That cemetery is our heritage; I expect to be buried there when I die," she said.
“As Muslim women we don’t attend funerals and seldom visit graves. But my brother visited there and he told me horrible tales of what he’d seen. All the graves of families and friends have been flattened. Worst of all, the trust never consulted us. We are appealing to government to stop this.”
Other members of the Zanzibari community accused the trust of treating the black Muslim community with disdain.
But Mohamed Hamid, a member of the Zanzibari community — and who has a close working relationship with JMT — said the allegations of desecration were exaggerated.
“I was part of the information team that disseminated information to all stakeholders concerned, meaning that notifications were placed at the cemetery, the mosques, as well as on the community WhatsApp group,” he said.
“In February, I was part of the team that started the work of cleaning and maintaining the cemetery. There was a pushback from a small section of the community.”
Hamid admitted there was never a meeting where the matter was discussed.
JMT secretary AV Mohamed told the Sunday Times that the trust purchased the land — about 46.6ha in total — on behalf of the Zanzibari community in 1895.
When the Zanzibaris lodged their claim in 1995, the trust agreed to concede most of the land and was compensated by the government, retaining only the mosque and cemetery portion of about 2.6ha.
“We have, [over the past] 135 years, dutifully maintained this property with the funds of the JMT, without a cent from anyone else,” he said.
“We reject claims of desecration. Our intention was to clean and maintain the mosque and the cemetery. The place was neglected and vandalised; anyone was coming in and out of the cemetery and mosque.
“We placed notices calling on families to bring burial orders, but nobody came forward. We have never stopped burials or charged anyone.”
Mohamed said the JMT decided to restrict access to the cemetery and the mosque after they noticed fresh graves, which had been dug and used for burials without the trust being notified or granting permission.
“The families who have a record of family members buried can visit the cemetery, and they can still bury there,” he said. “Over the past 135 years, we have not charged anyone a cent for using the cemetery to bury family members and for maintaining it and the mosque.”
Mohamed added that the Zanzibari community was fractured, with some members cordially working with JMT and others opposing them.
Mxolisi Dlamuka, CEO of the KwaZulu-Natal Amafa and Research Institute, said the authority was not aware of the alleged desecration but would investigate the matter urgently.
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