The city has noticed the trend whereby tombstones and graves are being tampered with and vandalised. The recent incident that happened at both the Botshabelo Cemetery and South Park Cemetery in Bloemfontein; drew the attention of the Executive Mayor of Mangaung Metro, Cllr. Thabo Manyoni.
On the 4th of June 2014, an employee of one of the funeral undertakers in Botshabelo (Molly’s Funeral Home) reported to the municipal employee at the Botshabelo cemetery that a lot of tombstones had been vandalised in their block.
Immediately after we (the city) heard of the incident, our staff went to the cemetery to assess the situation. They counted 15 tombstones that were broken; some crushed into pieces; others only headstones broken.
Our law enforcement unit in Botshabelo was notified and the undertaker was advised to report the matter to the police.
As a result of this shameful incident, the Executive Mayor’s office convened an urgent meeting with members of the South African Funeral Practitioners Association (SAFPA) in Mangaung who have been allocated space in the city’s cemeteries for burials. The purpose of the meeting was to deal decisively with the matter but also to explore other underlying problems, amongst others; looking at ways and means of raising an alarm amongst members of the community that they report to the police any case of this matter. We also urge for unity amongst undertakers themselves.
Another challenge was to also involve the community to act as whistle-blowers and report when they see people stealing or destroying the palisade fence at the cemeteries to the police. Stealing of the palisade fence has been a recurring matter, particularly at Botshabelo cemetery.
At South Park cemetery, two (2) incidents in the block belonging to Molly’s Funeral Home were reported. A courtesy telephone call was also made to the owner of the funeral parlour by the manager of cemeteries.
With regard to the process of allocating land to undertakers, undertakers who conduct 10 or more burials a week qualify to be allocated their own or individual blocks. The smaller ones share blocks.
There are currently nine (9) undertakers who have been allocated space at the Botshabelo cemetery. Each undertaker is allocated space which takes approximately 1000 graves.
If anybody fiddles with property within the cemetery of the municipality, the municipality has all the powers to take necessary steps. As the city, we would still go deeper into this matter; because ours is to ensure that once a tombstone is in the property (cemetery) of the municipality, it is safe.
We strongly condemn incidents of this nature and we would want to send out a strong message out there that once the undertakers have erected a tombstone, that becomes the property of the municipality and the city would have to take steps against any vandalism. But at the same time, it is families that get hurt in the process, because most of them take out fortunes to respect their deceased.
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