No burials for 10 year olds, cremation instead in Bulawayo

All children below the age of ten who die in Bulawayo would be cremated, the local authority has ruled.

The resolution is effective this year.

The cremations would be done at  crematorium in West Park, council said.

"Due to pressure for burial space at cemeteries and the amount of space taken up by infants, it had now been decided, in conjunction with the central hospitals, that an arrangement be made where all the infants (including paupers) should, starting from next (this) year be cremated so that we free up the burial space.

"This will be done with the consent of the bereaved parents, so that those who may not be comfortable with the cremation process may seek normal burial".

According to council, the  move is meant "to free up burial space which was dwindling very fast, especially at the moment where all burials were done at Luveve Extension Cemetery".

For years, council has been encouraging residents to switch to cremations to save land.

 Council once proposed a three pronged burial strategy , digging up deep graves to allow for two or three burials, stopping the reservation of graves and asking owners of unused graves to sell them back to the council, and the reduction of cremation tariffs to less than half the price of a traditional burial.