The arrest of a Durban cemetery supervisor has led to the discovery that many of the city’s municipal supervisors are making extra money on the side by selling municipal burial sites without the eThekwini municipality’s permission, a report said on Monday.
The Mercury reported that the supervisor, who was arrested three years ago on a similar charge, stands accused of selling burial sites at the Mobeni Heights Cemetery in the Chatsworth area.
The supervisor, Steven Naidoo, stands accused of selling burial plots for R800 each.
Naidoo allegedly told a bereaved person that the cemetery was full, but that he could ”work something out”. However, Durban’s parks, recreation, culture and cemeteries department was alerted.
Naidoo appeared in the Chatsworth Magistrate’s Court on Friday and was granted bail.
The head of the department, Themba Ngcobo, told the Mercury that at all the municipality’s cemeteries burial plots were being sold for R800.
In 2005, Naidoo appeared in court and was released on a warning after police, acting on a tip-off, found the remains of six bodies that had been dug up to recycle graves.
”We have been told this is extremely widespread. In all the instances where this is happening, the price is R800, which means there is coordination between the various supervisors [of the municipal cemeteries],” he was quoted as saying.
”If I had my way, they would be dismissed immediately,” said Ngcobo. — Sapa