Durban - THE eThekwini Municipality said there were currently no exhumations taking place at Loon Road Cemetery.
This was after the Daily News asked the municipality what preparations were made in forging ahead with exhumations at the cemetery and whether cultural rituals would be taken into consideration.
This followed the city’s announcement that graves older than 10 years at Loon Road Cemetery in Sydenham would be exhumed to make space for 8000 gravesites.
The exhumed remains would be reburied where they would remain permanently at a smaller cemetery.
The municipality has about 65 cemeteries, 97% of which are at full capacity and close to two-thirds are no longer operational.
The municipality said families who wanted to visit the gravesides of their loved ones would be able to do so, where they would be able to perform appropriate funeral rituals.
Municipal spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said the 8 000 new graves that would be created due to the high demand for burial gravesites within eThekwini were projected to service residents for about five years.
“The lifespan of any cemetery is mostly 10 to 20 years and beyond,” he said.
At the end of 2017, the municipality had announced it was looking to establish a new cemetery at Farm Broadvale and Inanda Farm.
Last September, the Daily News had reported that In2Assets Property Specialists had said the eThekwini and Umdoni municipalities had failed to participate in their public auction of the Broadvale land in August 2019.
Asked why eThekwini did not participate, Mayisela said the municipality was not a private organisation and had the Municipal Finance Management Act of 2003 and Supply Chain Management Policy of 2017 as a guide.
Daily News