The soil on Shawn Lantz’s grave is eroding. He was buried last year in the new Boksburg Cemetery.
A longtime friend of Lantz, Patricia de Sousa, said she noticed the erosion when she visited the grave with her daughter and her daughter’s fiancé on February 5.
“As people close to Shawn, we didn’t expect his grave to look like that. It is in a bad state. The soil is half full, and there is plastic on his grave. When we buried him last year, the soil was full. We expected the metro to take care of the grave.
“For now, we want the metro to refill the grave and keep it in a decent state so we can put up flowers whenever we visit our loved one’s grave.
The metro does not take care of the grave. It is disappointing for us as the family and friends of the man buried there. We don’t feel safe when visiting our loved ones at the cemetery because you hardly find security or cemetery workers at the gravesite.”
She said they can’t even inform the metro employees about the issue because they are hardly ever at the cemetery.
“We definitely want to inform the metro about the problem at the grave, but just don’t know where to report the issue,” said de Sousa.
According to the spokesperson of the City of Ekurhuleni, Zweli Dlamini, the City became aware of this complaint after receiving an enquiry from the Boksburg Advertiser.
“It was found that the grave was closed on the same day as the burial. That was done by the family of the deceased immediately after the funeral. After the funeral, officials went to the site to close the grave, but when they arrived, they found that the family had closed it.
“The closing of the graves is undertaken by the cemetery staff after the burial proceedings. In terms of Clause 22(2) of the CoE Cemetery and Crematorium by-laws, 300mm of soil must be put over the coffin.
“If there are underlying matters at the gravesite, they can be reported to the divisional head responsible for parks and cemeteries, Emmanuel Maphorogo, on 011 999 5468 or email Emmanuel.Maphorogo@ekurhuleni.gov.za.”
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