Huge jump in home burials
2003-06-02 12:23
Pietermaritzburg - Backyard burials are taking place at three times the rate of formal funerals as Pietermaritzburg cemeteries approach overload.
The home affairs department issues more than 2 000 death certificates a month in the greater Msunduzi region, but only 400 burials and an average of 80 cremations are performed.
This means about 1 500 bodies a month are being buried at home.
In rural areas, these burials usually take place on farms, but an increasing number of bodies are being buried at home in the formal and informal settlements within the city limits.
To compound the problem, both municipal cemeteries are either full or close to capacity and pose serious risks to the surrounding communities.
If more burial space is not found, the bodies may soon have to be buried on top of one another.
One of the proposals to combat the shortage is to reuse graves that are more than 50 years old.
In terms of the Cemeteries Act, the next-of-kin of a deceased person have to give their consent before a grave can be re-used.
If they cannot be traced, the municipality must advertise the name of the dead person to see if there is any response.
Consultants looking at the options
Another option is to dig up the roads at Mountain Rise cemetery and use this space for graves.
Stephan Naick, manager of support services in the department of parks and recreation, said a task team had been assigned to try and solve the space problem.
"A consulting firm is looking at our options. There are a number of pieces of land available and they are busy eliminating those pieces that could be used for housing or recreation," said Naick.
He said a decision to buy land would be made by July and the municipality was trying to fast-track the process by using a technical group made up of NGOs and government, environmental and farming officials.
"By having different people from various sectors involved from the start, we can have everyone's input as to what land is suitable," said Naick.
Geotechnical studies will have to be done to ensure the land is suitable for burials, and the cemetery will have to be accessible to the public.
Naick said informal cemeteries in rural areas were a problem that had not been tackled by the municipality.
"The problem is that, according to the Cemeteries Act, amakhosi are given rights to set up their own burial sites."
Naick conceded shale is already a problem at the Azalea Cemetery. "Unfortunately we inherited the cemetery from the NPA, who had done their own geotechnical tests on the land and they approved it."
The only legitimate, running cemetery
Meanwhile, a private cemetery in Lincoln Meade is the only option available for those not wanting to use the municipal cemeteries.
Owen Greene, one of the owners of Ethembeni Memorial Park, said: "The municipality is in dire straits.
"Our biggest concern is that our cemetery is going to be put under immense pressure because it is going to be the only legitimate running cemetery in six months' time."
The memorial park, which is three years old, was bought by Greene and his partners in January this year. It has about 400 graves and has the capacity for 60 000 grave sites.
Greene said they offered the municipality a very favourable proposition, which would make graves at Ethembeni available to the municipality, but had not yet received a reply.
He said graves at homes soon would pose a big problem.
"Aside from the obvious health problems, when services in those areas have to be upgraded, contractors are going to have to go to the High Court to get orders for exhumations.
"If they are building something and a grave lies in their path, they are going to have to either stop the contract or go around it," said Greene.
Grave sites at Mountain Rise cost R430 for a public grave, which can be re-used after 10 years, and R1 470 for a private grave, which is not re-usable.
At Azalea, it is a flat rate of R65. Ethembeni offers public sites for R500 and private graves for R1 450.