HIGHVELD – Residents are warned to refrain from acting in violation of the municipal by-laws at the cemetery.
The Govan Mbeki Municipality said those who do not adhere to the cemetery by-laws will not be tolerated.
The type of transgressions that take place, ranges from illegal installation of tombstones to laying of tombstones without prior approval by the Head of Department Community Services or an authorised official.
Some residents install or lay structures such as wooden crosses, still structures or pebbles on top of the graves.
The council stated that Secunda Cemetery is a headstone section where only a headstone is the permissible form of memorial.
According to the by-law Section 10(2), “No Person shall erect, place or leave upon a grave any object or decoration, except during the first 28 days following interment therein.”
Section 11.1(1) states that “No Person shall without prior written consent of the officer in charge, erect any memorial work in any cemetery under the control of Govan Municipality.
Section 1010.1(4) prohibits any work on a memorial on a Saturday, a Sunday and public holiday and at anytime from 5pm to 9am.
According to Section: 11.2, the council may prohibit the erection or re-erection of any proposed memorial work, which in its opinion is of inferior workmanship or quality which is in a way likely to disfigure any cemetery,” the municipality stated.
The public is once again warned that all structures that were installed or laid without the approval of the municipality will be removed and those with such structures are given a chance to remove them before the mentioned date.
Failure, to remove as requested will leave the municipality with no option but to remove them without further notice.
