ETHEKWINI Mayor Zandile Gumede has admitted that the city’s grave recycling policy may have infringed on the rights of residents and has undertaken to lobby the provincial government to amend the KZN Cemeteries and Crematoria Act as certain parts of the act could be said to contravene the constitution.
Gumede appeared before the Cultural, Religious and Linguistics Rights Commission which had called a hearing on the city’s burial practices.
The Commission has been vocal in its criticism of the city’s policy to re-use graves and claimed it discriminated against the poor and was unconstitutional.
The Commission said graves targeted for recycling were mostly those that did not have tombstones, while graves with tombstones were not considered.
The Commission claimed that poor families could also not afford to pay to renew their 10-year leases for grave sites.
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Responding to questions raised by the Commission, Gumede explained that the Municipality was guided by the KZN Cemeteries and Crematoria Act No.12 of 1996 which makes provision for unleased graves to be re-used 10 years after the interment of a body.
She said that the Municipality intended to adopt a policy decision that would allow families who could not afford to renew their leases after 10 years to come forward and after a thorough assessment, would be given amnesty to continue to lease the grave site without paying.Gumede went on to assure the commission that during the reuse of grave sites, remains were treated with dignity and not disposed of in an inhumane manner.
She said that to avoid people of different cultural and religious backgrounds being buried in the same grave, the Municipality encouraged the burial of people of the same family in a particular grave.
The commission also welcomed the news that the city would make use of the services of a tracing agent whose function would be to locate all people who lease agreements were about to expire and consult with them before reusing the grave site.
Gumede said the suggested procedure would have to be conducted a year before the lease lapses. The agent would make all efforts to contact the title deed holder or their next of kin to inform them of the repercussions of the default in payment. Only after all the above mentioned efforts had been exhausted, and there had been no success in consulting with the deed holder, would the city re-use the grave site as permitted by law.
The Chairperson of the Cultural, Religious and Linguistics Rights Commission, Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva expressed her gratitude at the commitment shown by the Municipality to respect and preserve people’s cultural and religious beliefs.
“We have been discussing this matter with the Municipality for close to 10 years and finally I am happy that we are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. It is also important for us to educate our communities about the importance of looking after their loved ones’ grave sites. Graves form part of our history and heritage. It is therefore important for us to preserve and maintain them so our future generations will know where their ancestors are laid to rest,” she said.
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