EVATON.-  Deceased’s tombstones are allegedly being dismantled, nicely packed and ready for resale to unscrupulous buyers at the Evaton Cemetery, commonly known as Number 1.

A concerned member of the public Mbalekela Radebe has raised the alarm and advised the members of the public to visit the graves of their loved ones at the Evaton Cemetery to see if their tombstones have not been disintegrated.

According to Radebe, he came across this disturbing news when he visited his great-grandmother’s grave at the cemetery on Sunday.

“Yesterday (Sunday) I had the feeling of visiting my grandmothers’ grave and I looked for the grave for almost I hour and decided to go home coz (sic) I even went to check for it from places I never went and later yesterday I recalled that I saw tombstones uninstalled and packed at one place,” he said.

He added that when he saw this, he immediately thought that the tombstones were being stolen and on Monday he went back to the cemetery earlier that on Sunday. He walked around with the hope of finding his loved one’s grave and indeed he did.

“But the worst thing is that they removed my grandmother’s tombstone top and after that I walked around with (the) vigilance and realized that they (the tombstones) are not damaged or what but being uninstalled with experience. So, it (is) alleged that some of the people who sells them (to families) buys them back from the ones that steals them (from the graves).”

This Radebe said, this happens while there is security at the cemetery, day and night.

Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) spokesperson, Makhosonke Sangweni said that they know of the old story, that of an alleged inyanga who was arrested after desecrating tombstones and graves in different parts of the Vaal, to which they issued a statement, while on the other hand Evaton SAPS spokesperson, Constable Thulisile Msibi said that no grave/tombstones vandalism case has been reported or opened with them.