Govan Mbeki Municipality says family members must close graves themselves
“They dumped all the ground onto another grave. This was unacceptable. I could not continue with the funeral because the family of the deceased were too traumatised by what was transpiring in front of them,” said Mr Rademeyer.
HIGHVELD – A notice was recently sent out to funeral homes in Bethal, stating that the Govan Mbeki Municipality will no longer be responsible for closing up graves.
These will be strictly the responsibility of the families and funeral parlours.
The Ridge Times has since requested several local funeral homes to release the notice, but to no avail.
Mr Hennie Rademeyer from Highveld Funeral Services did, however, speak to the Ridge Times about a family that was devastated during a funeral in Trichardt.
“We booked the grave, but when we arrived, the grave had not yet been dug.” Mr Rademeyer said arrangements were made for the grave to be dug by 10am. When he arrived at 8am, the grave had not yet been dug. A TLB only arrived by 9.30am to dig the grave.
“They dumped all the ground onto another grave. This was unacceptable. I could not continue with the funeral because the family of the deceased were too traumatised by what was transpiring in front of them,” said Mr Rademeyer.
“Although the family do not hold the funeral home accountable, it was a traumatic experience for them,” explained Mr Rademeyer. According to him, this is not the first time they had such issues.
Mr Thys Swart, owner of Highveld Funeral Services in Bethal, said the responsibility of digging of graves is that of the municipality. He was under the impression that they were also responsible for the closing up the grave.
“If I buy a car, I buy the car, not just the engine,” said Mr Swart. “If I buy a grave and they open it, then they must close it. We only have an hour to do a burial. How can it be expected of us to do a service and also close the grave in an hour?”
He said the notice stated that the family will be responsible for the hiring of a TLB for closing of the grave.
The Ridge Times has since spoken to Mr Benzi Soko, head of communications for GMM. A response was sent on behalf of management as follows: “The municipality is only responsible to provide a grave and it is the responsibility of the family to close the grave. “The municipality can only assist to close a grave on behalf of a family on request and on condition that a machine (TLB) is available during the time at the specific cemetery.
“The Department of Community Services had a meeting with all the undertakers during July where the matter was discussed and it was resolved that if the municipality cannot assist families, the undertakers will have to hire in a TLB to close graves.”
