Late man’s children want father, 90, dug up and reburied
Laid to the ground on 4 February, it is highly unlikely Palai Palai is resting in peace.
Indeed, if the 90-year-old Mochudi elder’s children have their way, he will not be in the ground where he currently lies for much longer.
Segomotso Palai, Nnaniso Palai and Tsholofelo Bakae maintain their old man was buried illegally by his ‘illegitimate’ wife, Lizzy Palai, insisting she defied a court order to stop their father’s burial.
Now, they want their old man’s body dug up from her yard in Makgophana ward and reburied ‘with dignity’ in a public cemetery closer to the family home in Boseja ward.
Although the legal route proved useless first time around, the determined trio have once again taken their grievances to High Court in an attempt to get their way.
On 20 April, they served Lizzy with a multi-faceted writ of summons seeking an order declaring her purported marriage to their late father null and void.
The children further want Palai’s remains exhumed and moved to a cemetery where family members can freely access his grave.
In the summons, the children state their father legally married their biological mother, the late Nene Palai, on 5 October 1970 in Mochudi.
They are adamant no divorce proceedings were ever instituted and the marriage was still in place when Nene passed away on 2 October 2000.
They argue that while Lizzy says she married their dad through customary law in 1988, such a union would have been unlawful as it was entered into when the civil marriage to their mum existed.
Palai’s children also claim she stopped living with their dad in 2011, and played no role in caring for him throughout the long illness that eventually claimed his life earlier this year.
The children believe Lizzy’s decision to bury their father at her private residence unfairly restricts their ability to access his grave.
With emotions stretched to breaking point on both sides, court is yet to set a date for the hearing.
Frustratingly, efforts to reach Lizzy for her side of the complex story were unsuccessful as her cell phone could not be reached.
The conflict dates back to Palai’s passing on 16 January.
Days after his death, the legal tussle began with Lizzy approaching High Court to obtain an urgent order stopping Palai’s children from proceeding with funeral arrangements scheduled for 24 January.
Appearing before Justice Onkemetse Tshosa, Lizzy’s attorney, Lesedi Seloka, argued that she was lawfully married to the deceased under Bakgatla customary law, with two cattle paid as bogadi.
Seloka submitted that as the surviving spouse, Lizzy had the legal right to decide when, where and how Palai should be buried.
He accused the deceased’s children of unlawfully taking control of the body and death certificate while excluding his client from the proceedings.
Seloka pointed out customary marriages are polygamous in nature and therefore did not prevent Palai from taking another wife despite his earlier union.
On 30 January, Justice Onkemetse Tshosa ruled that the biological children should hand over the deceased’s body to Lizzy.
After duly doing so, the children then filed an urgent application of their own attempting to halt the burial.
However, Tsholofelo told The Voice that despite being served with a court order halting the burial, Lizzy and her relatives went ahead and buried Palai anyway.
Now, the children want court to order that their father’s corpse be exhumed and returned to them for what they call a dignified reburial.
Amid all the uncertainty and drama, one thing is certain: Palai will be turning in his grave!
