New north graveyards ready
Problems to find suitable gravesites for people in the north should be solved.
Problems with finding burial sites for loved ones should soon be a thing of the past in the north of the city.
Two new cemeteries in the north of the metro were now ready for use, Tshwane mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa announced recently.
Tshwane North Cemetery and Klipkruisfontein Cemetery were functionally ready for burials. In addition, the extended portion of the Ga-Rankuwa Cemetery was now also available.
But, the mayor warned, the shortage of suitable land would in future mean burial grounds would be established in outlying areas.
Scarcity of land for the development of cemeteries and an increase in demand for accessible burial grounds has become a major problem in Tshwane, especially in the north.
The Heatherdale Cemetery in the north has almost reached its capacity, forcing residents of the north to bury family and friends in cemeteries in the east, west and south of the metro.
The Tshwane North Cemetery is a 20ha site.
“On the burning issue of cemetery provision within Tshwane, urbanisation has led to the creation of mutually reinforcing challenges of dwindling land for development of accessible cemeteries,” said Ramokgopa.
In neighbourhoods, where the demand was at its highest, suitable land for the development of cemeteries was a scarce resource, he said.
“Inexorably over time, cemeteries will be located further away from user communities,” he said.
Ramokgopa also said the metro would continue with its plans for the extension and significantly improved maintenance of some existing cemeteries.
Tshwane North and Klipkruisfontein cemeteries would provide much-needed relief for the burial difficulties currently faced by communities in the north, especially those within the Soshanguve, Mabopane and Hammanskraal areas.
“We regret the delay of the development of cemeteries in some areas as a result of disruptions from certain community members who demanded preferential treatment in the procurement of service providers,” said Ramokgopa.
Meanwhile, all 24 cemeteries in the Tshwane metro will soon have their data captured in an electronic format to easily store and retrieve information on matters such as family trees and grave locations.
The electronic burial information and management system was initiated in the 2014/15 financial year.
Mayoral spokesman Blessing Manale said the system was being introduced to modernise the management of information related to burials within the metro to have efficient, clear and reliable information.
Manale earlier said once all the teething problems had been resolved, the programme may be introduced in all 24 active cemeteries in the city.
Until now, the records and registers of burials were only available at the specific cemetery, whereas information captured on the electronic burial management and information system would be shared between all the cemeteries.
Information contained in 33 registers had been scanned into electronic folders and this information would gradually be transferred to the new system.
Manale said the new system would have many benefits.
“They include doing away with the old orthodox way of using books, pen and paper, doing away with unreadable fading handwriting, loss of pages in torn registers, avoidance of fraud and the ability to provide reliable up to date data.”
Manale said a current existing obstacle being tackled was the absence of a network connection at some cemeteries.
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