Bezuidenhout family cemetery an eye-sore

The Johannesburg Heritage Trust unveiled the Bezuidenhout Family Homestead on Saturday, March 14.

After the unveiling, Ms Isabella Pingle of the Kensington Heritage Trust, took those in attendance to the grave site where some of the Bezuidenhout family members are buried.

The family grave site is situated in the Bezuidenhout Park in Bez Valley, with the earliest graves dating back to the 1800’s.

Searching through the names on the headstones would probably take hours because of the state the graves are in.

The grave site is surrounded by waist-high weeds and the area does not appear to have been cleaned in years.

The Bezuidenhout family owned the farm Doorfontein in the days of the gold rush and gave their names to the suburbs of Doornfontein and Bezuidenhout Park.

According to Ms Pingle, the land, which is about 40 hectares, was sold to the City of Johannesburg in the 1940’s.

She said the cemetery used to be fenced off but all the fencing has been vandalised.

The large, locked iron gates beneath the entrance arch with the inscription Bezuidenhout Familie Begraafplaas are also gone.

“When the council was given the park, it was given on the condition that they keep the park clean. The park was given so it could be used as a family park. The last time we spoke to the council about fencing the grave site, we were told there are no funds available,” said Ms Pingle.

“As a resident of the area, I have some sense of respect and I think it’s a disgrace. I grew up here and I remember we used to picnic there. The circus would also host shows in the park. This is the oldest park and family cemetery in Johannesburg,” she added.

The Bezuidenhout family is said to be all over the world and the last time they visited the grave site was in 1982, when they had a family reunion.

Since then, the graves have been badly vandalised and the fencing stolen.

A request for comment was sent to Johannesburg City Parks.

At the time of going to print, no comment had been received.