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According to councillor for Ward 7 Dr Julian Kritzinger, there are no fewer than 23 different erven of cemeteries all clustered together. Only four of the erven belong to the Breede Valley Municipality (BVM), while the 19 other erven are private property that belongs to different congregations, which includes the Worcester Muslim Council, Evangelical Congregation, NG Sendingkerk, Seventh Day Adventists, German Lutheran Congregation, Perfect Apostolic Church, Anglican Church, Hebrew Congregation and the NG Kerk.
The core principle to understand is each of these congregations is responsible for maintaining its own cemetery.
Regarding what the BVM has done to safeguard the Worcester Cemetery, Kritzinger said: “Since many denominations no longer exist or do not have the necessary financial means to sustain their cemeteries the ward committee of Ward 7 has embarked on a phased process of fencing the street front of the Worcester Cemetery, in Kerkhof Street. In all, R200 000 was used from Ward 7’s collective ward-based funding from 2017 and 2018 for Phase 1 of the fencing of Kerkhof Street.
“Phase 1 enclosed the entire portion of the NG Kerk’s cemetery, all the way from the Congregational Church’s cemetery to the entrance of the Worcester Crematorium. This has already contributed greatly to safeguarding almost a third of the Worcester Cemetery. This community-based project from Ward 7’s Ward Committee was done out of pure generosity and must be seen as an act of goodwill to try and improve the situation in the Worcester Cemetery.”
On what the BVM is still going to do to help safeguard the Worcester Cemetery, Kritzinger said Ward 7 was very fortunate to receive an additional R100 000 funding in Breede Valley Municipality’s Budget of 2022-’23 to further enclose the street front of the Worcester Cemetery.
Phase 2 of the new fence will be erected in this book year and will most likely reach as far as the Prefect Apostolic Church’s cemetery street front and hopefully also include the German Lutheran Church’s cemetery’s street front.
