There is no care for the dead at Evander Cemetery

A horrendous and sad sight greets one when you enter the Evander Cemetery – overgrown grass, plenty of litter and broken down tombstones as far as the eye can see.

There is no maintenance of grounds around these graves.

And when the grass is cut, the work is more focused on newer burial sites and neglecting the old.

Upon investigating after receiving numerous calls from concerned residents, the Ridge Times was greeted with grass almost shoulder high and a sight that looks abandoned.

Graves are barely visible and one fears stepping on a grave or even worse, a venomous snake.

An Evander resident, Lydia Viljoen, said she tries to clean her parents’ graves every six weeks or so, but due to the state of the cemetery and also safety aspects, she is considering having her parents exhumed.

“Even if I have to dig a hole in my yard to bury my parents’ remains, I will do it.

“It is not nice to see your parents’ graves looking the way they do.

“You can go now and clean and be at peace with their resting place, only to return to see the horrible state,” she said.

“The trees are so overgrown they damage tombstones. You will even find cattle roaming the cemetery damaging graves.

“This is costs that loved ones have to pay to replace tombstones,” said Viljoen.

An emotional Viljoen said it is sad because her parents, just like many others who are buried at the cemetery, were once taxpaying residents and that the only cleaning of graves is done by family members who are still around.

“We try to clean the graves as often as we can.

“My mother has been dead for 33 years and my father 26 years. We take our water to wash their graves because there is no water at the cemetery,” said Viljoen.

She said most recently, her family went to clean her parents’ graves and not even a day later, at a gravesite just next to her parents, were empty bottles of water strewn all over and just left there from a funeral that took place.

“We stopped cleaning my parents’ grave when we saw there was a funeral taking place. That’s why we returned the next day to find the cemetery in this mess,” said Viljoen.

She said the overgrown grass and weeds are a huge concern and that one cannot see if any reptiles are slithering around.

“What happens if a snake bites someone, who is going to be responsible for this?”

She also said they have tried numerous times to put weed poison by her parents’ graves to stop the growth of weeds, but it only helps for a short while.

“It is not a nice feeling to see your loved ones’ graves look like this. It can not go on like this!” exclaimed Viljoen.

Viljoen is a lifelong resident of Evander and it saddens her to see graves of those she knew and who have been residents in this condition.

Donald Green, acting manager of communications for Govan Mbeki Municipality said: “The Govan Mbeki Municipality is aware of the number of complaints concerning overgrown grass in open public spaces, and it assures residents that the delegated department will be attending to the maintenance requests.

“It is a norm every year to have these kinds of backlogs between January and March due to rainfall that has contributed to the rapid growth of the grass.

“Various teams are cutting grass in public areas and municipal facilities using brush cutters and tractors,” said Green.