Heartbreak at Khutsong South Cemetery as vandals destroy over 100 graves
Police are investigating possible motives — including cult activity or financial gain — while residents demand that the Merafong City Local Municipality urgently improve security at the cemetery.
Many residents whose loved ones are buried at the Khutsong South graveyard had a terrible experience this week.
According to a resident of Khutsong Extension 3, Thabang Buchingi, someone shared a video in a community group on Sunday that the graves at this cemetery were badly damaged by vandals.
“I immediately went to check whether my mother’s grave was also not damaged. Luckily, it was not, but an old lady who stood there crying really touched my heart,” he says.
The pensioner told him that she is not working anymore and has no money to repair the grave of her late husband.
“I went to security to find out what happened. They said that the people did this on Saturday morning at 02:00. I’m surprised because I never thought something like this would come to this side,” says Buchingi.
He says that a security guard told him that they had asked the Merafong City Local Municipality, which owns the graveyard, in the past to fix the gates so that they could be closed at night. Another security problem needing attention is the fact that sections of the palisade fencing are also broken, and criminals can gain entry to the graveyard easily by stepping through the gaps.
@carletonvilleherald Relatives are heartbroken after more then 100 graves were damaged at the Khutsong South graveyard over the weekend. The motive for this act is still unsure. #merafong #khutsong #gauteng #westrand
When the Herald visited the graveyard with Buchingi on Monday morning, it was filled with people who came to check whether their loved one’s gravestones were still intact. Several relatives were crying because their loved one’s gravestones had been smashed. As far as could be determined, more than a hundred gravestones were damaged.
“This is very painful. We could not sleep last night after we heard about this. We are just asking ourselves how we are going to get money to repair this. My sister saved money for her own gravestone before she died,” says Betty Mogotsi, whose sister, Motshidi Kamele’s gravestone was among those smashed by the vandals.
“One wonders who could have done something like this. It looks like they were using hammers,” said Brian Seobe, whose eyes were full of tears after he saw the damage to the gravestone of his late mother, Tseleng Emely Seobe.
The Station Commander of the Khutsong Police Station, Colonel Ockie Brits, confirmed on Monday morning that they were already investigating the violation of the graves. At the time, however, they still did not know who might be responsible for the heinous crimes. He said that possible theories on who might have done it included a religious cult, people sent there by the manufacturers of gravestones, as they can make money with the repairs, or even people acting out on Halloween, which was on Friday, October 31.
Brits confirmed that similar cases had been reported in Mogale City, Randfontein, and Westonaria recently. He asked that relatives of people whose graves were vandalised go to the police to open cases, because this is essential for court processes to continue once the perpetrators have been arrested.
Although the Herald asked the municipality about the issue on Monday, they did not answer by printing time.
The Herald asked, amongst other things, exactly how many graves were vandalised and what the municipality is going to do to secure the graveyard and other graveyards against possible similar attacks.
