The eThekwini municipality is planning a national conference on cemeteries and land to address the shortage of space for burial grounds, the head of cemetery services said on Friday.
”We called the conference because we discovered that eThekwini [formerly Durban] municipality was not the only council that had to deal with the reality of shortages of space for burials,” said Thembinkosi Ngcobo, the municipality head of the parks, recreation, cemeteries and culture department.
Ngcobo said that in Durban, for example, cemeteries expected to last for 15 years are only lasting about eight years, with available land suitable for burial purposes competing with housing, industrial development and agricultural activities.
”It is estimated that more than 12ha of land will be required in the eThekwini region every year in order to accommodate the definite death increase rate caused by the scourge of HIV/Aids in our society,” he said.
Ngcobo said his municipality is actively campaigning among especially the African community to adopt cremation as an alternative to burial, but this approach has met with hesitancy on the part of communities.
He said that over the past two years an increase has been noted, with less than 10 cremations two years ago now ”multiplying” to 20 per annum.
”The possibility of a high-profile person, such as Brenda Fassie, being cremated can help make people aware of cremation,” said Ngcobo of the cultural difficulties that need to be overcome.
Ngcobo said the municipality is also looking at other alternatives to cremation, such as recycling graves and even freezing and shattering bodies to achieve the same effect as cremation.
”We will send a team to America in July to learn more about this [freezing],” he said.
Ngcobo also spoke out against the unbecoming behaviour at cemeteries caused by unruly youngsters who disregard cemetery by-laws and other grieving mourners.
”There is a new breed of criminals who do car hijackings, wheel spins, robbing of mourners, discharging of guns, play loud music and burn vehicles. Vandalism and theft of tombstones are part of this new criminal activity and some even use cemeteries for hiding stolen property,” he said.
The national cemeteries and crematoria conference is scheduled to take place from July 15 to 16.
Delegates are expected to debate the solutions to the impact of escalating burials, the scourge of HIV/Aids, scarce land and traditional burials, among others. — Sapa