Families want City of Joburg to stop ‘stealing’ relatives’ graves

At least five families have complained to the city of Johannesburg after they discovered complete strangers had been buried on top of their loved ones without their consent at the Klipspruit cemetery in Soweto.

Other families have alleged that the city has been exhuming bodies from the cemetery without a court order.

According to Nicole Myburgh, spokesperson for Community Accountability Gateway, the Kliprivier Cemetery is closed because it’s full. It is only available for the reopening of graves.

“We have a new cemetery called Olifantsfontein Cemetery,” she says.

ALSO READ: Joburg cemeteries and crematoria implement new rules for lockdown period

At the Kliprivier Cemetery, there seems to be chaos over the allotment of new burial space. The organisation caught wind of this at the recent funeral of someone who was being buried on top someone else’s grave, seemingly without the knowledge of the original grave site owners.

“When they got there and everybody was at the cemetery they realised they had opened the wrong grave. What happened was that members of the community went to the officials who said there was nothing that they could do about it. So they went and dug their own grave at the correct site,” Myburgh said.

“In the three hours that was happening, members of the community were saying this had happened to them too. We then caucused about what we had seen at the funeral. We then sent a message to community development MMC [members of the mayoral committee] Margaret Arnolds.”

In documents seen by The Citizen, families described their distress at learning that their loved ones’ graves recently had people buried on top of them.

“What is happening is they are opening the graves and either just opening the wrong graves or putting people in existing graves. Who are they are getting permission from if the families are only finding out about it when they get to the graves? Most of them don’t even know who is buried on top of their people.”

ALSO READ: Gauteng prepares mass graves as Covid-19 infections increase

Myburgh is not sure what is necessitating the municipality to resort to these measures but speculates it may have to do with deaths as a result of the third wave of Covid-19 infections.

The Adams family from Eldorado Park have been looking for their family member Victor John Adams’ grave. Though he died and was buried in January 2014, his grave number does not reflect this, which has caused years of heartbreak as the family cannot find his body.

City of Joburg responds

Eventually responding to questions about the matter, Joburg City Parks and Zoo spokesperson Jenny Moodley says that City Parks and Zoo is responsible for the management of 37 cemeteries and two crematoria in the city of Joburg.

As much as the city of Joburg has adequate burial space for the next 50 years, the city is looking at  alternative burial options to contain future costs of managing dormant cemeteries that have reached full capacity for new burials. She did not, however, confirm whether Kliprivier Cemetery had reached full capacity.

The city has adopted an alternative burial option strategy which has been amplified in recent years to educate residents about cremation, above ground burials in masoleums and additional burials in the existing grave of a family member.

“The Klipspruit Cemetery which is part of the greater Avalon Cemetery is therefore experiencing a symbolic increase in the number of families considering multiple burials in an existing grave as a preferred option. This provides families with keeping their loved ones together at a reduced rate while ensuring that cemeteries are effectively utilised,” says Moodley.

A closely monitored process has been put in place in which families need to personally apply for a reopening. Once all documents are provided, including the grave number obtained by the family from the undertaker and supported by an affidavit, an usher walks the family to their identified grave to ensure the grave number correlates with cemetery records.

An application for a reopening will not be processed if there is a dispute over the grave numbering. City Parks will, however, immediately assist the mourning family in ensuring a new grave site is allocated.

System not working

But this has not been happening for everyone. Anne Dire, a resident of Eldorado Park says her family was humiliated after they had to dig their own late relative’s grave because the undertakers opened the wrong grave and since it was already the day of the funeral they couldn’t wait.

They had no choice but to start digging in front of their guests.

Another Eldorado Park resident says her sister in law had been frustrated to the point of drinking every day, because someone was buried on top of her sister without their knowledge. The family only found out after the brother died and they wanted to use the same grave but found it had been opened and someone else was buried there.

“There have been isolated concerns in which City Parks were not provided with the correct grave number after allocating multiple graves to the same funeral house for burials at the weekend, where records inadvertently reflected the wrong section with the correct grave number or where a grave number was captured incorrectly,” says Moodley.

The new system in place at Olifantsvlei Cemetery supposedly ensures all burials are verified on a Monday to reflect any changes in the records for the burials at the weekend.

In instances where a reopening was conducted at the wrong grave, City Parks is directed by cooperative governance to comply with strict exhumation application processes to rectify the matter. This necessitates City Parks contacting both affected families for permission to exhume and reinter the remains of a loved one.

But the Maskew family did not get such consultation when Vernon Maskew was trying to bury his mother earlier this year. It was discovered around the time of the funeral that his brother’s grave had been opened and someone buried on top of him.

Eventually another grave site was provided to bury the mother. The family claims it was promised that the situation would be rectified but nothing has happened to date.

Moodley urged community members to be mindful that mourning families need to be assisted and to avoid causing confusion and further anguish while City Parks works with affected families to rectify the matter.

Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo urges the affected family to contact the manager for cemeteries and crematoria Reggie Moloi on 082 803 0655 for any assistance regarding a reopening.

• The first edition of this story was published after failing to garner answers from the city of Johanneburg (CoJ). The story has been updated to include its response.

simnikiweh@citizen.co.za