Joburg offers soil after heavy rain wrecks graves

Heavy rains have damaged the graves of the recently buried and collapsed headstones in a Johannesburg cemetery.

Councillor Nonhlanhla Sifumba‚ a member of the mayoral committee for community development‚ said that the Olifantsvlei Cemetery‚ near the Golden Highway took the brunt of the damage.

“Some graves and headstones have collapsed‚ and memorials placed on the graves have been washed away‚” Sifumba said. “Initial reports indicate that burials that took place during the past three weeks in the new section are the ones that have been severely affected.”

The cemetery‚ which only opened recently‚ covers 400 hectares. About 9 000 burials have taken place there.

Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo were at the cemetery on Friday to examine the extent of the damage.

“In order to preserve the dignity of the dearly departed residents of our city‚ [Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo] will offer soil to families whose graves have been affected by the erosion caused by the rain‚ and will additionally refill the graves once the rain subsides‚” said Sifumba.

He appealed to people to go to the cemetery to see if their family graves had been damaged.

He also asked people to postpone erecting memorials until the ground settled.

“This reduces the risk of the memorials collapsing during acts of nature such as heavy rains‚ which erode the soil that has not settled‚” Sifumba said.