• Tweet

LAST RESORT: Despite the new owners of the Grootvlei cemetery fencing their land, residents have not been deterred from using the space as a burial site. They are up in arms at the prospect of travelling more than 30km to the cemetery at Balfour.

RELATED ARTICLES

• Family's shock to find brother's remains

The community of about 15000 people has no place to bury their dead.

Since May, when the new owners - on whose land Grootvlei residents buried their loved ones - erected a fence around the makeshift cemetery, the community has been forcing its way in to bury the dead. Residents say they have on several occasions cut the fence to gain entry to the land.

In its 2009-10 and 2010-11 projects outline, the municipality said it would spend more than R2.7-million for the establishment of a cemetery in Grootvlei Extension 1.

In the document, which Sowetan has seen, the municipality states: "The the appointment of [a] contractor is in progress."

The land which the community uses for burials is privately owned and has been sold to new owners. The previous land owners, New Century Homes, did not respond to Sowetan's inquiry sent last week.

Previously a mining area, Grootvlei has an informal settlement which continues to mushroom. RDP houses are being built in the area.

Municipal spokeswoman Phindile Sidu said: "The area under consideration [to establish a cemetery] was a mine village comprising only 76 housing units, with no intention to either expand or establish a township."

She urged Grootvlei residents to use the Balfour cemetery while the process was still ongoing.

Resident and SACP ward 5 chairman Sammy Mapohosha said: "What has the municipality been doing with money? The people here are poor and the unemployment rate is high. People struggled to hire a bus that would transport mourners to the cemetery .

"Where will they get money to hire buses to transport people to the Balfour cemetery, which is more than 30km from Grootvlei?" he said.

Thandi Mokoena, whose husband was buried at the cemetery in 2003, said she feared the graves would be flattened.

She said the municipality had identified land near Tokoloho primary and Tshepeha secondary schools as a cemetery site.

Elias Malinga, whose son and daughter-in-law were buried at the makeshift cemetery, said: "The area (near the schools) is a wetland. The graves will sink."

Residents said they would fight to prevent the municipality from establishing a cemetery near the schools.

But Sidu said: "Finalising the deed of sale is at an advanced stage." - mashabas@sowetan.co.za

Comments

• Sign in or sign up to comment

Thu Jun 20 12:11:47 SAST 2013 ::

Jul 24, 2012

januswanus

Check check reality check.
Report Abuse

Jul 24, 2012

MommaC

LOL
You can't even get service delivery when you are dead.
Report Abuse

Jul 24, 2012

MOTHUBANNYO

The bloody municipality should just buy the this land cos thye are wasting money already which they can't account to.
Report Abuse

Jul 24, 2012

Home1234

Considering all the land that the ruling party has expropriated (many, many farms lie fallow because of this), one would think that this problem could easily be solved. Another fairly obvious solution would be cremation. You can scatter the deceased's ashes in a place that was dear to him/her and there will be no disappointment of knowing that your burial plot and tombstone is being neglected and vandalised.
Report Abuse

Jul 27, 2012

knobkirrie

Home1234- Cremation is the best solution under the circumstances, but Africans, like Catholics in Europe, dont believe in cremation. A burial site is not a priviledge but a right. Why would a govt sell land designed for burials?? who, in their right minds, would live where there used to be a cemetery? SA is no island, there is no shortage of land
Report Abuse

Read all 5 comments