News / Local
Burial space shortage hits Bulawayo
07 Nov 2015 at 07:52hrs | Views
Bulawayo City Council's (BCC) burial space is reported to be fast filling up, a situation that has prompted the city fathers to apply for more land from central government.
Latest council minutes of the health, housing and education committee indicate that a new cemetery would be located in Pumula South high-density suburb.
Council director of health services, Zanele Hwalima said the local authority was now waiting for the gazetting of land in Pumula South for use as a cemetery.
"In view of this, there was need for another cemetery to be established. He (Councillor Siboniso Khumalo) sought clarification on the arrangements for the establishment of a cemetery," reads part of the report.
"In response the director of health services explained that an application was made to central government for the gazetting of a cemetery in Pumula South. The application had passed through physical planning and it was now at the offices of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
"The parent ministry had promised to make follow-ups with relevant ministries. It would also be prudent for council to send a staff member to Harare on this matter. The acting town clerk advised that delays were being experienced. There were a number of issues that required follow-ups. Council would group them accordingly and send staff members to make necessary follow-ups as soon as possible."
Of late the council has been encouraging people to cremate their beloved ones, saying burial space at the cemeteries was fast running out.
But according to the city council, there was a low response from blacks to switch over to cremations, with only 12 cremations having been recorded in October this year.
In a bid to find more burial space, city fathers said they were now negotiating with other landowners to establish new private graveyards.
At some point the council came up with a controversial burial plan to preserve the current burial space by suggesting three approaches such as 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 fee of a traditional burial.
Latest council minutes of the health, housing and education committee indicate that a new cemetery would be located in Pumula South high-density suburb.
Council director of health services, Zanele Hwalima said the local authority was now waiting for the gazetting of land in Pumula South for use as a cemetery.
"In view of this, there was need for another cemetery to be established. He (Councillor Siboniso Khumalo) sought clarification on the arrangements for the establishment of a cemetery," reads part of the report.
"In response the director of health services explained that an application was made to central government for the gazetting of a cemetery in Pumula South. The application had passed through physical planning and it was now at the offices of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Of late the council has been encouraging people to cremate their beloved ones, saying burial space at the cemeteries was fast running out.
But according to the city council, there was a low response from blacks to switch over to cremations, with only 12 cremations having been recorded in October this year.
In a bid to find more burial space, city fathers said they were now negotiating with other landowners to establish new private graveyards.
At some point the council came up with a controversial burial plan to preserve the current burial space by suggesting three approaches such as 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 fee of a traditional burial.
Source - Southern Eye
