POLOKWANE – Residents are up in arms as vandalism at the Polokwane cemetery in  Dahl Street continues.

James Lawrence recently visited his friend’s grave at the cemetery and discovered that it was vandalised.

“We come here to pay our respects to our grandparents and even great-grandparents just to find that their graves have been urinated on or the headstones are vandalised in some way. These people are our forefathers and ancestors and we feel their final resting place must be kept safe and protected,” Lawrence told Review.

A municipal cemetery worker who spoke to Review on condition of anonymity, said there were young people and sometimes older people who hung around the graveyard during the day. He said when these people are told to leave the cemetery, they swear at him and sometimes even threaten to hurt him.

“We keep the area clean as far as possible, but when you turn your back someone has broken off a flowerpot, stolen the flowers or vandalised a headstone.
“We usually just place the pieces somewhere they can be found by visitors and hope they see them and put them back,” he said.

Municipal spokesperson, Tidimalo Chuene, said community safety officers were responsible for safeguarding the cemetery and a security guard from a contracted private company was posted at the cemetery in the evenings. She said general maintenance of the cemetery was carried out daily by the municipality, which included picking up of litter and weeding.
She added that the grass was cut every two weeks during rainy season and once a month when the grass was dormant.

“The public can assist the municipality by reporting any kind of vandalism to our community safety department and the police,” Chuene said.

The municipality urged the community to report any form of vandalism to community safety department at (015) 290 2457, 290 2458; 290 2470 for further investigations.

Graveyard robbery, vandalism grief

No more rest for the dead