When Frans Schoeman and Mariaan Lombaard went to the Greenhills Cemetery on Sunday, 7 January to visit their families’ graves they were shocked by what they found there.
The Herald, DA Ward 6 councillor Ellik de Lange and Peter Dick, DA Ward 9 Councillor went to the cemetery with Schoeman to go and see for ourselves.
It did not take long to realise that this once beautiful cemetery has again deteriorated. This despite the Herald reporting in May last year that the Greenhills Cemetery had been undergoing a much-needed upgrade after five years of neglect.
Read it here: MunicipalMonday: Greenhills cemetery gets a facelift
Schoeman said the long grass and tall weeds were totally unacceptable, and that it is important that the cemetery is kept neat as a sign of respect. Various complaints have been lodged about the cemetery, being crime-ridden topping the list.
At one of the graves a couple was watching someone they themselves have hired cleaning it. Engela Janse van Rensburg was in tears because of the state her mother’s grave was in. She took it upon herself to make her mom’s grave look respectable. She and her husband, Boet come from Margate once a year to visit the grave and their family.
A disgusting sight was refuse, which could not have originated from the cemetery, spilling from the waste bin. It seems to be used as someone’s private dumping site.
Dick and De Lange agreed that something needs to be done as soon as possible. They undertook to give the issue their full attention.
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