Anger at poor state of cemetery
For many years the Albersville Cemetery has been in poor condition due to lack of maintenance.
A cemetery is meant to be a place of peace and tranquillity, a place where the remains of loved ones are buried.
For many years, the Albersville Cemetery has been in poor condition due to a lack of maintenance by Ray Nkonyeni Municipality (RNM).
Many have raised their dissatisfaction with the municipality.
A visit on Tuesday last week revealed a collapsed structure at the entrance and overgrown grass in the entire cemetery. The collapsed structure, which was predominantly used during Hindu funerals, gave way some time ago; it was never restored and is an eyesore.
“How does one pay their respects to a loved one when the cemetery is overgrown with grass and unsafe to visit? ” asked Mano Pillay.
As a woman, she said can’t go there alone to visit her husband’s grave. “The waist-high grass and lack of maintenance is a big problem,” she said.
Ward 12 councillor Leon Garbade said the terrible state of cemeteries on the South Coast is an ongoing battle.
“It’s an absolute disgrace as we cannot show respect to our founding fathers of our towns. It is a constant battle of having to report and beg for services. RNM is constantly telling us that they are placing the cemetery grass-cutting on the schedule. They also mentioned that it will be regular, but that never happens. We always have to beg for services,” he said.
He added in response to this article, “The municipality will blame the strike on this.”
Previously, there was security at the entrance; hence, a security house was built. Now, this unit has been vandalised.
“We have not seen a security officer for months. Is the municipality paying for this contract without checking if there’s security stationed here? ” asked a concerned resident.
Nomusa Zulu, communications officer at RNM, said the protracted strike action has had an impact on the delivery of services, including maintenance of infrastructure.
“The municipality is catching up on the backlog and will attend to issues such as grass cutting in due course. The collapsed structure in question has unfortunately been badly vandalised.”
With regard to the security at the cemetery, she added that the municipality will investigate the issue within the available budgetary provisions.
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