A sister and daughter of lost loved-ones raises concerns over maintenance of Panorama Cemetery.

Recollections become muddied without a fitting place to remember those closest.

Once having said goodbye to a loved one, one keeps their echo reverberating through the preservation of a marker to their existence. Jenni Derbyshire has been visiting the Panorama Cemetery since 1998 after her brother passed away aged just 19. With each of the regular visits, Jenni has noticed the steady decline of the facility, losing the reverence required of a such a sombre setting.

Now a mother of two teenage boys, Jenni is needing to add another name to the gravestone. Jenni’s mother passed away last month and it was her wish to be buried with her son. Wanting to have a ceremony for her mother’s ashes, Jenni is appalled at the condition of the facility. “It is in an absolutely shocking state. I just stood there and wanted to cry. There are weeds in the paved walk way, sunken graves and weeds about half a metre high,” stated Jenni.

Some graves are neatly maintained but the vast majority of gravestones fight for space with the overgrowth as the grass around Jenni’s family’s headstone has overgrown the surname at the base. “This is supposed to be a place where you have lain your loved one to rest, where you can go for good memories. It should be a beautiful, peaceful place to go,” added Jenni.

Panorama Cemetery was once privately owned but was given to City of Johannesburg Johannesburg and is now designated as a ‘passive’ cemetery. Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo (JCPZ) are the custodians of the site and the entity’s spokesperson, Jenny Moodley, states that the site is maintained on a monthly basis.

“JCPZ have both a peak season and off-peak schedule. We are currently entering the peak season which commences around mid-November, based on warm and the wet weather that accelerates overgrowth,” she stated.

Moodley elaborated on other challenges, saying, “The concerns in cemeteries are the lack of resources to increase the number of scheduled cuts and the need for headstones to be restored due to time and inclement weather. There is also the added issue of isolated reports of opportunistic crime; desecration of graves and vandalism of cemetery infrastructure resulting in increasing costs to manage and secure cemeteries”.

Initially unsure of whether it was permissible to maintain the area themselves, Jenni is happy to pull out weeds and is hoping more families whose loved ones occupy the cemetery will do the same. Moodley supported this, saying, “We are appealing to families to take care of tombstones and headstones. All Saints Day, which is a tradition on the eve of Halloween, is a wonderful opportunity for families to visit, repair and clean grave sites”.

JCPZ stated that the next mowing has been brought forward and will be scheduled for maintenance on Monday October 24. Should this happen, Derbyshire will be one step closer to laying her mother’s ashes to rest in a dignified place.

Should the public wish to raise concerns about service delivery for parks in Region C and at Panorama Cemetery they may direct that to Joburg Connect on 011 375 5555. If the complaint is not dealt with in 30 days, residents can escalate their complaints to the Regional Manager for Horticultural Services, Puleng Ditabe at pditabe@jhbcityparks.com