OVER the next seven to 10 years, all 36 cemeteries in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro will be full, according to Gregory Kops, acting director of cemeteries.
Only 11 of the cemeteries in the metro can still be used. The rest are full. Every weekend, 65 to 80 people are buried in the Motherwell cemetery.
“In the past, a piece of land was measured and fenced as a cemetery. No environmental impact assessment was done, as is the case today.
“Graves in the Bethelsdorp graveyard lie on a slope and the Motherwell cemetery gets flooded sometimes because no proper research was done on the ground,” said Kops.
In an effort to get more space for graves soon, it is planned to expand the Matanzima (KwaNobuhle) and Malabar cemeteries. Another solution in their search for more space is to offer graves in the footpaths of certain cemeteries.
“In the North End cemetery, where the footpaths are very wide, we have been given permission to make graves available. When the big open roads are no longer accessible to cars, it also helps to keep people away who are up to no good in the cemetery,” said Kops.
New fences are also erected around cemeteries according to a priority list to curb crime and to prevent vandalism.
Lance Grootboom, Member of the Mayoral Committee for Public Health, said that R8 million was spent on Motherwell’s border fence and another R5 million for a border fence at the Forest Hill cemetery.
“The fences are very necessary. Where fences are errected, the difference can be seen. The cemetery looks more beautiful and cleaner, and it also offers better access control.”
He says both projects should be completed by the end of June.
But damage that has already been done to Motherwell’s unfinished fence can cause the project to slow down.
Residents of an adjacent informal settlement damage the fence to take a shortcut or to use the cemetery’s water.
Grootboom said that concrete would soon be placed under the fence to try to prevent this.
