Taking maintenance into own hands

Entrepreneur takes cleaning the Zandfontein cemetery into her own hands.

February 19, 2015

Natalie Grobler 1 minute read

Municipal graveyards are in such a dire state that a privately owned company has been formed to clean the overgrown graves and even wash the headstones.

Mayville resident Petro Olivier said both her parents and in-laws have been buried at Zandfontein cemetery and for the past two years she has dedicated time to clean their resting place.

“I visited the cemetery on Sunday and realised the dire state it was in. I imagined that there are a lot of people who would like to keep their loved-ones’ graves neat, but do not have the means or time to do so,” she said.

Olivier, a garden service owner, decided to branch out and include the upkeep of cemeteries as part of her portfolio. She said the response from people who were interested in this type of service had been overwhelming.

“I realised that people have a need to maintain the graves. That is the reason behind the service. It is not about the money, although it is needed to implement the service, but rather about preserving the memory of a loved-one. My parents are also at the cemetery and I understand the need,” she said.

Olivier said she might consider adding other Pretoria cemeteries to her list if the need arises, but at the moment she was only focusing on Zandfontein’s graves.

Rekord earlier reported that Tshwane metro spokesperson Selby Bokaba said maintenance of the cemetery is done on a monthly basis. He said that the work was in progress and that it should have been completed by the third week of January.

The metro had not responded as to why the cemetery has not been completely cleaned up yet.