News / Local
Cremate the dead to save land: Bulawayo Mayor
05 Mar 2011 at 13:05hrs | Views
Bulawayo City fathers are encouraging residents to switch to cremations to save land.
Mr Thaba Moyo, the city's mayor, said cemeteries were fast filling up and that the council is negotiating with some landowners for more land on which to establish new graveyards or expand existing ones.
"We want to educate our people that cremation has some advantages over normal burial. It is cheaper as you do not even need a coffin. Also, you do not need to buy a grave. On the other hand, the local authority saves land which we can use for other purposes like building houses and factories."
Zimbabwe has one of the world's biggest HIV and Aids pandemics, killing about 124,000 people yearly, according to Smartwork, a US-funded Aids organisation.
According to Mr Moyo, people of Asian descent as well as the White community are cremating their dead but there is slow response from Blacks. In February only 13 cremations were done; a low figure that has led the municipality draw up a burial strategy.
The burial strategy comprises of three approaches, including, 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.
At present, a basic burial - including cemetery, grave fees, a modest wooden casket and transportation - costs about $380 whilst cremation costs an average of $200.
Nonetheless, deep-rooted opposition to cremation among Black Zimbabweans who say African culture discourages it is growing as constant electricity cuts and expensive fuel add to arguments against the practice.
Mr Gilbert Mbasa, a cultural activist and English lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe, argues that each culture has a way of handling its dead and for black Africans, cremation is not one of them.
"In our culture, death is not simply stopping to live, it's a transition from one state of being to another. Those who burn their dead have their understanding of death, which is not ours," he said.
Zimbabweans believe in life-after-death, and so if they cremate their deceased relatives they feel that the spirit will not live in the afterlife, Mr Mbasa adds
Mr Thaba Moyo, the city's mayor, said cemeteries were fast filling up and that the council is negotiating with some landowners for more land on which to establish new graveyards or expand existing ones.
"We want to educate our people that cremation has some advantages over normal burial. It is cheaper as you do not even need a coffin. Also, you do not need to buy a grave. On the other hand, the local authority saves land which we can use for other purposes like building houses and factories."
Zimbabwe has one of the world's biggest HIV and Aids pandemics, killing about 124,000 people yearly, according to Smartwork, a US-funded Aids organisation.
According to Mr Moyo, people of Asian descent as well as the White community are cremating their dead but there is slow response from Blacks. In February only 13 cremations were done; a low figure that has led the municipality draw up a burial strategy.
The burial strategy comprises of three approaches, including, 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.
At present, a basic burial - including cemetery, grave fees, a modest wooden casket and transportation - costs about $380 whilst cremation costs an average of $200.
Nonetheless, deep-rooted opposition to cremation among Black Zimbabweans who say African culture discourages it is growing as constant electricity cuts and expensive fuel add to arguments against the practice.
Mr Gilbert Mbasa, a cultural activist and English lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe, argues that each culture has a way of handling its dead and for black Africans, cremation is not one of them.
"In our culture, death is not simply stopping to live, it's a transition from one state of being to another. Those who burn their dead have their understanding of death, which is not ours," he said.
Zimbabweans believe in life-after-death, and so if they cremate their deceased relatives they feel that the spirit will not live in the afterlife, Mr Mbasa adds
Source - Byo24NEWS
