Heritage cemeteries rated as ‘most vandalised in South Africa’

A group of local tourists who recently visited the Kenilworth and Gladstone cemeteries in Kimberley with an author and historian, expressed their utter shock and disgust at the vandalism, theft, and neglect of the graveyards.

Steve Lunderstedt, author and historian, was most horrified.

On the right is the headstone of Hon. William McClintock Bunbury, pushed over along with other headstones in the Gladstone cemetery in Kimberley. Bunbury fought in the Anglo-Boer War at Dronfield on 16 February 1900 and died due to his wounds the next day.

Photo: Charné Kemp

“Of the many historic cemeteries in Kimberley, the most priceless is that of the Gladstone cemetery. It hosts the last remains of so many prominent Kimberley and South African personalities, as well as those who died tragically in the great De Beers underground fire of 1888 and in the Siege of Kimberley of 1899 to 1900.

“The theft of more than 100 granite and marble headstones for recycling, the theft of virtually all metal railings and crosses, and worst of all, the indiscriminate destruction of most of the headstones have destroyed the cemetery virtually completely.

“The Ferraris family plot and the adjacent Nazareth House sisters plot have also been destroyed.”

A metal cross of a soldier in the Gladstone cemetery has already been removed by a vandal, and will probably be sold at a scrapyard.

Photo: Charné Kemp

He says some of the prominent persons within include Victoria Cross recipient Thomas Lane; Fergus Carstairs-Rogers, architect of the City Hall; Elizabeth Radford, first principal of the Kimberley Girls’ High School; Barney Barnato’s father-in-law; George Labram, inventor of the grease table and the Long Cecil gun; Henry Scott-Turner; Flora Brown; great writer RW Murray; and many more of all race groups are buried in the Catholic section.

“The Sol Plaatje Municipality, together with the councillor in charge of that ward, the scrap metal merchants, and sadly, the Commonwealth War Graves who supposedly maintain all British graves, must take most of the blame.

“There has been no municipal maintenance of this cemetery, nor any other cemetery save West End, since before the pandemic of 2020. It is appalling and shocking and no surprise, together with all the other destruction in Kimberley, that tourists no longer come to Kimberley save to view the Big Hole.

“Cry the Beloved City,” he says.

Bringing visit forward

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) says in a statement that they had last visited the Gladstone cemetery in 2017. The CWGC is responsible for the routine maintenance of Anglo-Boer War (ABW) graves in South Africa.

“We carried out extensive maintenance and repair work on the graves and headstones, including some of those highlighted in the media inquiry. Our team was due to visit the site in early 2022 to carry out technical checks on all graves and routine repairs. However, Covid-19 and the knock-on effects of the pandemic delayed this.

“We were planning to next make a visit within the next three to five months, but in light of the information and pictures we have received, we are looking at bringing this forward.”

A cross and headstone on a soldier’s grave, who died in the Anglo-Boer War is seemingly bent over to be removed by a vandal in the Kenilworth cemetery, presumably intent on selling the metal.

Photo: Charné Kemp

The maintenance is managed by the Africa and Asia Operations team. Basic day-to-day maintenance, however, is carried out by the regional team based in Centurion, who covers the whole country.

“We maintain some 300 locations in South Africa, containing individual ABW graves and collective memorials (within the ABW date range of 1899 to 1902). We are tasked with providing maintenance only of ABW grave plots and memorials, and all ABW plots are inspected on a routine basis, on a cycle of once every five years.

“Gladstone Cemetery is a large municipal site which contains several ABW plots, but the responsibility for the whole site sits with the municipal authorities. The Sol Plaatje Municipality appear to have had significant difficulties in maintaining the site, and indeed it would seem that their routine inspections or clearances have not been conducted for some time.

“Due to the deteriorating condition of the whole cemetery, we also have significant concerns (from a safety perspective) about our team visiting and working there for extended periods. This will be taken into consideration for future technical inspections.”

Vandalism a challenge

Thoko Riet, municipal spokesperson, says they have started cleaning the Pioneer Cemetery.

“We are almost finished. The dumping of rubbish around and inside the cemetery is a major problem which hampers other services that need to be attended to.

“The Gladstone cemetery was created in the 1800’s. Most of the graves and headstone are not intact due to soil erosion. The other challenges are vandalism, and the metal which is sold to scrap yards.

“In the next financial year will we attend to other cemeteries, like Ramatshela that also need to be cleaned due to vandalism that has occurred.”

Many metal crosses have been removed from soldiers’ graves, leaving this one standing in the Gladstone cemetery.

Photo: Charné Kemp