Cemeteries in Zwide, Bethelsdorp, Papenkuil and Motherwell are being desecrated.
Stolen caskets, graves looted, mourners robbed at gunpoint, tombstones vandalised.
These are not isolated incidents.
This is a collapse of municipal responsibility and respect for the dead.
Families even have guards at graves overnight to protect recently buried loved ones.
At the Motherwell cemetery, cattle, sheep and goats were roaming freely and grazing among the graves as a herdsman looked on.
At the Bethelsdorp and Papenkuil cemeteries, visitors are forced to go in groups for safety as individuals have been attacked and robbed at gunpoint.
Tombstone kerbs are being stolen at the Zwide cemetery.
Our municipality has failed the dead and living.
And despite these atrocities there has been a disturbing lack of urgency from city officials.
The graves of ward 15 councillor Mpumelelo Majola’s parents have been vandalised, with the kerbs stolen at the Zwide cemetery.
“Security is a serious issue in our cemeteries and the municipality needs to do something about it urgently before more families are affected,” he said.
That even a sitting ANC councillor — part of the governing coalition running the metro — fears for his safety at a cemetery is shocking.
And if even the councillors are unsafe in our cemeteries, then truly, no-one is.
Security services were halted after more than 600 guards were insourced following a 2019 council resolution.
The decision, intended to save the municipality money, backfired and ultimately cost the city millions more and left dozens of other facilities in ruins due to vandalism
However, this is more than about money to hire guards.
We must not forget cemeteries are sacred spaces.
To let them become grazing fields, dumping grounds and crime hotspots is to show contempt not only for the dead, but for the living too.
The municipality needs to do better.
The Herald
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