Dead man buried in wrong grave

The Bulawayo City Council's records of cemeteries are in shambles leading to the mislaying of the dead in reserved graves and the reopening of graves with remains.

According to the Council, this is what led to the mix up for the Ngulube family when their father's reserved grave was found with human remains.

In August, Bulawayo City Council initiated investigations of possible theft of reserved burial space at Athlone Cemetery after the family of the late Mr John Jani Ngulube (103) had to endure the horror of finding human remains in his last rest place and two other graves which had been offered as replacements.

He had paid the local authority for the reserved grave for the last 20 years, preparing for his death.

According to Council spokesperson, Mrs Nesisa Mpofu, their investigations revealed that there was a mix up in records.

"Further investigations revealed that the reserved graves for the affected family (Ngulube family) are still available and unused. There was a mix up in locating the exact position due to staff turnover and a mix-up of records," said Mrs Mpofu.

There were fears that the graves might contain bodies of murdered people and used as a cover up, since some are not identified.

Mrs Mpofu said their investigations will not involve digging up reserved graves to find out if they are empty.

"These are possibly proper burials that were done and there was a mix up with records. Exhumation can only be done if there has been a request for exhumation," she said.