Family blames tombstone debacle on negligence
The family said contractors were not asked to sign any document and they were not assisted by a cemetery officer to point out the exact grave.
The Gamede family of Crystal Park has come forward to claim the tombstone that was recently removed at the Lala Ngoxolo Cemetery, in Crystal Park.
This is after it was discovered that it was incorrectly erected on the grave of Torlquin Martino Joubert. The removal of the tombstone comes after Torlquin’s mother, Cherry Erfurth of Northmead, fought for months to have the tombstone removed.
In May, Benoni City Times reported that Erfurth found the tombstone of another child on her son’s grave on March 5.
The wrong tombstone bore the name Chiedza Mokgope (August 12, 2008 to February 14, 2010), while the mementoes the family had cemented into the ground at her son’s grave were scattered around the cemetery.
She said Torlquin’s gravesite number is 145 and Chiedza’s is 146. Speaking to the Gamedes, who recently visited the cemetery to install their child’s tombstone on the correct site, said they had no idea there was a mistake made with grave sites.
According to Chenayi Gamede, Chiedza’s aunt, on the day the tombstone was installed in December, members of Matlapeng Tombstones found a steel plate marked number 146 on Torlquin Joubert’s site.
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The family has no idea how this ended up on Torlquin’s grave site.
“I think they then assumed that it was Chiedza’s grave site and proceeded to install the tombstone. We were told by the contractors that they didn’t sign any documents and they were not assisted by a cemetery official in pointing out the grave site.”
Gamede said she only saw the follow-up article in the Benoni City Times on September 28.
“I was so shocked when I saw a picture of Chiedza’s tombstone in the newspaper. I went to the cemetery the following day and spoke to officials who confirmed that they’d been trying to locate the family.”
Gamede said the tracing of Chiedza’s family yielded negative outcomes because Chiedza’s parents are deceased. She rubbished claims that they did not have a permit to erect the tombstone and may have done this illegally and after hours.
“Before the installation of the tombstone we visited the cemetery offices to request Chiedza’s grave number and then informed the contractors, who carried out the work in broad daylight.”
Gamede’s son, Thabo, said they were relieved that everything is sorted out. “It’s a pity officials are not taking responsibility for the mess they created in the first place,” Thabo said.
His mother claimed that officials were unhelpful when they tried to enquire about Chiedza’s grave during their recent visit.
“We had to beg them to come out of their offices to show us where to erect the tombstone. There were no maps or grave numbers to point us to the correct grave,” said Gamede.
Matlapeng Tombstones acknowledged it was a mistake to erect a tombstone on the wrong site number and this has been rectified.
“We sympathise with Cherry and have been in contact with her on numerous occasions to assist with a new tombstone for her little one,” said a spokesperson.
“As discussed, the tombstone manufacturing and erection can take up to eight weeks to be completed.
Also Read: FOLLOW-UP: Metro takes down incorrect tombstone
