Outcry over damaged Pretoria graves

10/02/2016.Wanda le Roux, was amonst the unhappy families that descended on the Pretoria East cemetery yesterday after the shocking news that the graves of their loved ones had been damaged. Picture: Oupa Mokoena

10/02/2016.Wanda le Roux, was amonst the unhappy families that descended on the Pretoria East cemetery yesterday after the shocking news that the graves of their loved ones had been damaged. Picture: Oupa Mokoena

Published Feb 11, 2016

Share

Pretoria - Furious sisters Wanda and Paula le Roux flew to Pretoria from the Western Cape after learning that their mother’s grave at the Pretoria East cemetery had been damaged.

They were among the grief-stricken families who went to the cemetery on Wednesday to inspect the graves. Their mother, Johanna Theunissen, was buried there in 2010. Her grave was among those affected.

They told the Pretoria News they were shocked to discover that a little garden made in honour of their mother and decorated with flowers had been destroyed.

The cross put up in front of the headstone was found lying on the ground. A board with words “Rest in Peace” was nowhere to be found.

“This is a gross human rights violation. They should’ve informed us prior to what they did,” said Wanda.

The sisters lamented that the damage was done so quickly that affected families had no time to preserve what was sentimental to them.

But Tshwane spokesman Lindela Mashigo said no graves were desecrated. He said the cemetery fell under the Category A, known as a Berm Cemetery - where only headstones and lawn between the grave plots are allowed, and with good infrastructure and a high level of maintenance.

Mashigo said the work was done to level and remove excess soil to prepare the ground for irrigation system installation and grass planting.

He said the city had received numerous complaints that it was not planting lawn as per cemetery specifications. “We posted a message that we would be cleaning this section,” he said. “However, in the event of damage, we request concerned families to inspect and see if it is indeed true.”

Anthea Blignaut fought back tears as she explained the worst that could have happened to her parents’ graves. “They weren’t damaged; but were probably going to be next,” she said.

Blignaut went to the cemetery in solidarity with the other families whose loved ones are buried there. “We also want to prevent them from doing this to my parents’ graves and others in the future,” she said.

“We are all touched. At first we thought all the graves were damaged. This is very bad. I feel so bad for everyone who is standing here that they had to go through this.”

Blignaut said her parents were cremated and buried on the opposite side of the damaged graves. “They got small little coffins. This is not what we want for them; this is not right,” she said.

Hein Beneke said he learnt about the damaged graves on social media.

“Everything that formed part of the grave was found on the heap a few metres away. The cross was uprooted,” he said.

“I can’t explain it; the graves were treated as if we just dug them up and buried nothing there. There was a proper lawn and we maintained it. Some of the graves needed maintenance. But ours was neat.”

He said his family received no notification from the city about the imminent clean-up. “They just did it,” he said.

“For people not to respect your grave is the worst kind of inconsiderate approach.

“I don’t know how anyone can do this. We are totally flabbergasted by this,” he said.

Belinda de Nation-Hepers said she got the shock of her life when she discovered, by chance, the sight of the grader bulldozing the first four rows of graves.

De Nation-Hepers said she was lucky that her husband’s grave was not damaged. She went to the graveyard by chance because she had something to do there.

“I saw them picking up a tombstone. And later they piled them up; I just knew something was not right. I watched how they picked up a tombstone and threw it. It was an ugly sight.”

Councillor for the area Lex Middelberg has since laid criminal charges against city manager Jason Ngobeni and other officials for breaking the by-law by “desecrating the graveyard”.

He said that more than 600 graves were bulldozed using heavy construction equipment to flatten the ground over the graves.

“The city’s workers obliterated graves, damaged any number of tombstones and destroyed or removed some tombstones and shrines built and maintained by grieving relatives.”

[email protected]

Pretoria News

Related Topics: