‘Mamelodi cemetery neglected’
Mamelodi residents say they have asked the Tshwane metro to clean the Mamelodi West Cemetery numerous times.
Residents of Mamelodi had to clean the Mamelodi West Cemetery themselves to give those visiting their departed loved-ones safe access to the graves.
The residents told Rekord that they had made several failed requests to the Tshwane metro to clean the cemetery ahead of the Easter holidays during which many people visited their loved-ones’ graves.
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They said the cemetery had been in a terrible state for more than two weeks with overgrown grass and weeds making the area unsafe.
They said they were afraid visitors could be bitten by snakes.
At the weekend, the residents gathered to clean the graveyard themselves.
Resident, Belinda Skhosana said the graveyard was so unkempt it had been difficult for her to find her loved-ones’ graves.
She also said the cemetery had become unsafe with drug addicts lurking in the area.
Residents were also fed-up with the litter claiming people no longer respected graveyards that they threw their trash there.
Skhosana said it was the metro’s responsibility to clean the cemetery because residents paid their rates every month.
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A resident, who recently put a tombstone on a dead relative’s grave, said she joined the effort because was concerned for the safety people who visited graves.
She said she had heard that men who had come to clean the graves of their loved-ones had come across and killed a few snakes there.
“Luckily they had spades and cane knives they had brought as cleaning tools,” she said.
The residents implored the metro to send police to patrol the graveyard to stop drug addicts who lurked in the area from attacking visitors.
Metro Region 6 deputy director Lorraine Maudi said the metro was still waiting for the relevant departments to give her the facts before she could respond to the Rekord enquiry.
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