It was the ghosts' turn to have their say.

Over the past months their skeletons have been unearthed and some of their bones removed. Building at the Prestwich Street site, where they have lain for so long, has been halted, at least until their descendants decide what to do with them.

Some of their voices, however, are asking to be heard and have persistently been calling to psychic Belinda Silbert recently, she says.

And so it is that on a hot summer's day we're at the site, with permission from the South African Heritage Resources Agency, to hear what the voices have to say.

Silbert steps right in, keeping to the paths, speaking constantly as she relays the information she's getting.

It's not a comfortable place, she says, unlike graveyards that are peaceful and timeless. There's been a lot of pain here, and many souls have not been able to move on.

There are layers of burials, and some people were buried elsewhere and then brought here. Many were buried without dignity.

There's also no uniformity - different areas seem to have different groupings - to the north lie slaves who were Muslim, but were forced to convert to Christianity, and then buried as neither. They want to be buried as Muslims.

Some were just thrown into graves, many died of smallpox. Some, from different religions, want to be separate.

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