The Pretoria east cemetery has been improved, following its state of neglect in recent weeks.
The cemetery was this week given a revamp through grass cutting and tree pruning as part of a massive clean-up and maintenance campaign by Tshwane.
The long-overdue work at the cemetery followed months of non-maintenance.
These issues had angered residents who said the lack of care for the final resting place of their loved ones was a sign of disrespect.
Residents previously said they felt unsafe due to the overgrown grass and long branches.
Currently, there’s no boundary wall on the western side of the cemetery allowing dwellers of Cemetery view informal settlement to gain access to the site whenever they want.
The cemetery on Matt Street in Pretorius Park is situated opposite Cemetery View informal settlement, and mourners are allegedly harassed by the informal settlement dwellers.
This has led to residents feeling unsafe to visit the site.
Some residents cannot find the graves of their loved ones as the overgrown grass is covering the headstones.
Last year, locals were urged to save the cemetery through the community upliftment precinct (CUP) initiative, which would have seen private partnerships assist the city with general upkeep and landscaping as well as build a wall to make it safer for mourners.
Ward 101 councillor Malcolm de Klerk said the cemetery was finally cleaned.
Metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said parts of the cemetery were trimmed during the second week of Dec 2024.
“The reactive maintenance, following the continuous rain from December 22, 2024 to mid-January 2025, is continuing.”
Mashigo said there is a plan to continue grass cutting in February 2025 with their internal team.
“It is important to note that in previous years there were grass-cutting tenders in place where the city made use of the external service providers to join the internal teams to cut grass in all spaces. However, those were stopped in August 2024.”
He said litter collecting has been scheduled for every Monday and Friday. Tree pruning is ongoing on an ad hoc basis.
The maintenance is being undertaken by the urban management teams across parts of Tshwane after residents raised grievances over poorly maintained grave sites in the past months.
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