Durban - A piece of land in La Mercy, north of Durban, has been earmarked by the eThekwini Municipality to be developed as a cemetery and could be ready for use as a burial site as early as January.
Head of the Parks, Recreation and Culture Unit, Dr Simphiwe Ndlovu said the city had acquired land in the north and was looking at other sites. He gave the details about the plans during a discussion on the city podcast, eThekwini Matters.
The news has been welcomed by councillors who said they hoped it would solve the issue of burial space shortage that had been a problem for years.
The city has in the past faced a serious challenge with the shortage of grave sites. In 2020 it was reported by The Mercury that the municipality’s cemeteries were at capacity. At the time it was resolved to re-landscape Loon Road Cemetery. This process meant they would exhume human remains in all grave sites that were 10 years and older, and rebury them at a smaller cemetery where they would remain permanently.
The plan to re-use the graves faced strong criticism.
Speaking on the land acquisition, Ndlovu said the environmental impact assessment had been done.
“It is not the only one; we have a number of people who have come forward to say, ‘We have land’. Speaking broadly about it, we have a couple of land (sites) that we are assessing. But we have confirmed the one in the La Mercy area. There is land in the south being assessed. I am hoping that by June next year we would have confirmed maybe five burial spaces,” he said.
He urged the community to understand that different types of soil meant that grave sites could not just be created anywhere. He added that during the recent floods, they were faced with a situation where some buried bodies were exposed, and “we do not want that”.
“I am very happy to say that by January we would have increased the burial space with the land that we are purchasing,” he said.
IFP councillor Mdu Nkosi said it was good news if land had been identified.
“This has been a long-standing item. I think we all know that there are no more spaces for burial in eThekwini.
“Let us hope that proper consultation has been done because we cannot afford a situation where people finally get spaces for burials – then there are court issues,” he said.
DA councillor Remona Mckenzie said the matter had not been tabled before the community services committee which she sits on, and the report on the matter had been requested.
“Space/land for burials has long been an outstanding issue in eThekwini. The practice of burial falls within the culture of many South Africans in the city. We would support this should it come to committee if the process is followed correctly.