Now Full: A total of 374 000 people buried at Avalon Cemetery

Avalon Cemetery in the heart of Soweto is notable for the number of famous people laid to rest at the site. Among the buried are Hector Pieterson, Joe Slovo, Helen Joseph, Lillian Ngoyi and Hastings Ndlovu, who all played a role in the fight for democracy in South Africa.

The cemetery was opened in 1972 at the height of apartheid as a burial place for black. In its 45 years of existence, many Soweto residents have laid family members to rest there, and the graveyard is reaching its capacity. This means that the only alternative burial place is within the remaining cemeteries in the City of Joburg.

The graveyard recently added another luminary to its list of influential people buried there when murdered actor Mandla Hlatshwayo was laid to rest there.

City Parks spokesperson Jenny Moodley said that the City of Johannesburg has about 33 gravesites and 28 cemeteries within the City of Jo’burg which have already reached full capacity status.

She said that the remaining five cemeteries which could be used as alternative burial sites included West Park, Diepsloot Memorial Park, Waterfall, Lenasia and Olisfantsvlei cemeteries.

“We anticipated that Avalon would reach its full capacity within two years ago, hence we then introduced other gravesites for burial, including Olisfantsvlei Cemetery in 2016 November.

“Despite the fact that Avalon cemetery has reached its full capacity, we advise people to opt for reburial if they want to use the cemetery for reburials.

However, as the City of Joburg, we advised residents that we still have enough available space for burials at the new cemeteries,” explained Moodley.

Avalon Cemetery is 187 hectares big and each hectare could accommodate about 2000 graves. In total, there are about 374 000 people buried at the historic cemetery, excluding reburials.

Moodley advised families who have bought burial sites at Avalon not to be confused by the situation because their burial sites are still available.

“We have had several complaints about the Avalon Cemetery Extension from the undertakers because the area is rocky.

“As a result, the site was closed because it was deemed unsuitable for burial.

“There is still enough space available for burial at the new Olisfantsvlei Cemetery which can accommodate about 800 000 people for burial. As the City of Joburg, we still have enough space available for burial for the next five years provided by the new alternative cemeteries,” concluded Moodley.

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