Zuurfontein Cemetery gets cleaned up

AfriForum recently stepped up to clean Zuurfontein Cemetery.

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A regular visitor to the cemetery, Lorraine Porter said the organisation’s involvement came as a breath of fresh air when everything else seemed “pretty hopeless”.

“The battle to clean the cemetery has been going on since January last year.

“I have personally been back and forth with various heads of departments in the city and was getting no joy.”

Porter said her group of concerned residents had tried every avenue to have the condition of the cemetery highlighted.

“Our ward councillor also couldn’t bring us any results, only excuses. We were advised that we must clean the cemetery ourselves,” Porter said.

“It has been very sad and worrying to watch a once beautiful place literally turn into a derelict mess. More concerning for us is that none of the people in authority do anything to assist.

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“I have been blocked by people in authority every time an attempt was made to have someone give answers to where the monies allocated to the cemetery have gone,” she said.

Porter said the cemetery previously had a staff complement of around 15 workers attending to the gardens.

“Now there are only three staff members. These three workers are responsible for the upkeep of the cemetery, which is pretty much at capacity, as well as the Bredell Cemetery.

“They have to dig burial sites as well as maintain the gardens, which is ridiculous,” Porter said.

“The cemetery also has broken equipment that has been laying around and nobody is attending to having the equipment fixed or sourcing out new equipment.

“There is a lawn mower that needs some parts, which would be of good use if someone in charge would have it attended to.”

Porter added that she and fellow group member Jooste Nel sourced weed killer for the pavements.

“This weed killer is currently at the cemetery. Our worry is without proper supervision who is going to put this weed killer down on the pavements and attend to all the dead grass left over?”

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Porter said her group reached out to AfriForum in April.

“We reached out to AfriForum in desperation because the weeds were completely taking over the gardens,” she said.

“They gave us dates and delivered. Why can’t the same be said for the people in charge, the people who are earning salaries to make sure these matters are attended to?

“We as community members with loved ones buried at the cemetery would like to extend our absolute gratitude to Jan Vermaak, André Badenhorst and the team from AfriForum for assisting us in getting the cemetery cleaned up,” Porter said.

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She added that the clean-up saved the rose beds that were destroyed due to neglect and the weeds taking over.

“It looks like the only way forward is to assign cemeteries to people who will make sure they don’t fall apart and get the job done.

“We as the community would like our once-beautiful cemetery maintained and cared for.

“Many of the individuals with loved ones buried at Zuurfontein are themselves vulnerable and elderly,” Porter said.