The only surviving child of the family whose remains were exhumed by the Osino Resources Mining Company says she is disheartened by the exhumation process, which took place without consulting the family.
Four graves were dug up last week to enable mining activities to start.
The Auchab family has lived at Okawayo 46 since the 1800s.
They narrated that it was the wish of the farmer they worked for at the time, who was the first to own the farm, that the two elders of the family be buried on the farm.
Three owners later, the farm was bought by a mining company, Osino Resources, focusing on gold mining.
The mine’s Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Haye Daun, made a. decision for the remains to be exhumed, citing failure to come to common ground with the family as the reason.
His decision, however, opened up wounds, especially for Thusnelde Owoses, the only remaining child of GodFriendine and Johannes Auchab, whose remains were exhumed.
“Who gave them permission to dig and remove my parents and the kids? Who gave Osino permission? We want the person who gave them permission. We are really pained by what they did,” Owoses asked.
She said they did not give the go-ahead for the remains to be exhumed from the land that they were born and grew up on, hence the pain they are feeling.
Although the gates to the place where the graves were exhumed were locked, Owoses rejoiced when she stepped on the grounds of Okawayo, reminiscing on her childhood memories.
Another family descendant of the Okawayo farm is Ottilie Auchas, whose baby’s remains were among the exhumed graves.
“My very own child was buried here, as was that of my uncle. In total, we had four graves, and now we heard that their remains were dug out, with whose permission as we didn’t allow anything like that.”
The remains are currently stored at Nambob facilities in Swakopmund, and the family was given two weeks to give input in writing to Osino regarding the reburial process.
The family is also questioning why the first environmental report provided by Osino Resources did not indicate that there are graves on the farm, and that was only indicated in the second report.
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