Grave concern for Redhill cemetery shootings
'The last funeral was the worst, in terms of the length of time it took to discharge fire arms,' said the resident.
RESIDENTS and members of the Greenwood Park CPF are no closer to having their questions answered regarding a spate of live rounds being fired at the Redhill Cemetery.
This was revealed by local resident, David Williams at the recent Glenhills Ratepayers Association meeting who said the most recent burial at the cemetery was one of the worse he had heard in years.
According to Williams approximately 30 live rounds were fired at that particular funeral which took place on 1 February.
“There are signs saying no alcohol or firearms are allowed inside the cemetery but on several occasions this rule is broken. For me the biggest risk of live rounds being fired is the possibility of a member of the public being killed by a piece of lead that falls out of the sky. The last funeral was the worst, in terms of the length of time it took to discharge fire arms. I heard the first shots being fired at 2.25pm and heard the last shots being fired at 3.50pm, I was too afraid to leave my house so I remained indoors and decided to record the times when shots were fired.
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“When I went to the cemetery a few hours later I was told by the guard the persons discharging the firearms made sure someone was present to collect the spent shells. However I found four spent cartridges on the road that leads straight down to Malacca Road and handed them over the Greenwood Park SAPS for ballistics testing,” he said.
Williams who has sought answers to why live rounds were fired in a built-up area for several years said he has also emailed a comprehensive list detailing all the incidents in the past few years to the eThekwini Municipality. He feared that every time a military veteran or gangster was buried, residents in the area stood the chance of being killed by a stray bullet.
“This is the whole reason for me pursuing this ongoing problem and to make sure it is stopped before someone in our neighbourhood is killed by a stray bullet. There have been many stray bullets landing in people’s properties and also we ought to be able to move around freely in our gardens and use the public roads when funerals are taking place in the cemetery on the weekends.
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“Bearing in mind that alcohol is consumed by the perpetrators during the burial proceedings, another offence, being a public place, but no enforcement is undertaken by the City nor SAPS. I continuously raise this at the sector 5 CPF meetings at Greenwood Park Police Station and still nothing substantive is being done,” he said.
The eThekwini Municipality was not available for comment at the time of publication.
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