OPINION: Going into any cemetery in Kimberley is not a pleasant experience. In fact, it is a risky business and people will advise you to not go in alone, writes Danie van der Lith.
CEMETERIES were once respected and regarded as the final resting place for our loved ones. It was a place where you could go to visit that loved one, maybe have a seat on or near the grave, and just speak to your mother that you miss so much. You know she is not there anymore, but her grave leaves behind a small piece of her for you to hold on to – a tangible reminder of many, many precious memories.
In the past, when I was much younger, it was safe to visit a cemetery. Security was visible and the yard was well-maintained and clean. The grass was cut regularly and you would not find a piece of paper lying around, because pride was still a thing back then and it was an important mindset that most had – overall, people took pride in themselves and their surroundings.
But going into any cemetery in Kimberley today is not a pleasant experience. In fact, it is a risky business and people will advise you to not go in alone.
This week, after receiving several calls about graves being vandalised at Gladstone Cemetery, I decided to visit the old graveyard to see for myself if the alarming stories I had been hearing were just hysterical exaggerations or if things were really as bad as the callers had claimed.
“Our loved ones can’t rest in peace, because their graves are being vandalised and dug up by grave pirates, who feel nothing for the dead,” one resident said.
However, even having heard that statement, nothing could have prepared me for what I encountered.
Several residents in Kimberley have come forward to express their disgust at what can only be called systematic, barbaric, willful acts of vandalism at the cemetery. And it was worse than I ever could have imagined.
When I entered Gladstone Cemetery, I was shocked to see that almost every grave had been vandalised. Even more alarming to me was that I could also see that the headstones and slabs were not just kicked over and broken; they were being vandalised for a specific reason.
All the large tombstones had been toppled over and there were excavations around the graves; also, the marble and concrete slabs were smashed into pieces and I wondered why – was it an act of anger, hate, or just a lust for destruction. I could not get my head around it as, with a heavy heart, I headed home.
While I was at home, thinking about what the vandals could be looking for, something – a little voice in my head – told me to go back to the cemetery. At first, there was nothing new, but as I was walking around I heard the noise of banging on metal. I followed the banging noise and came across a “grave pirate” in the act of destroying a grave.
It all became clear to me when I saw what he was doing. I realised that he was stealing the metal cage and the decorative fencing that the deceased’s loved ones had installed decades ago. It was then that it dawned on me that whoever was smashing the headstones was looking for the reinforcing wire inside. I could not believe what I was seeing.
The grave pirate was vandalising a grave more diligently than a group of municipal workers do a repair or a clean-up job. And from what I could see, the damage they did to those graves in the cemetery was irreparable. The metal harvested from the damaged graves was probably sold to scrap yards for a few rand, but the devastation left behind is miserable to witness.
I crisscrossed the plot of ground and realised that Gladstone Cemetery is no more. All that is left is underground and invisible to the naked eye – the bones of the loved ones that families have laid to rest over the years.
With all this in mind, I enquired from Sol Plaatje Municipality regarding the security and maintenance of cemeteries in Kimberley, asking why security personnel can’t do regular patrols in the graveyards for visibility, and why EPWP workers can’t be utilised for the cleaning of the grounds.
Municipal spokesperson Thoko Riet expressed her dissatisfaction with the state of Gladstone Cemetery.
“We cannot look away as a community when we see these barbaric activities being done by these criminals,” she said. “They clearly do not respect the dead any more … and we need to preserve and take care of our own as a community because these cemeteries are ours and we cannot do it alone as a municipality.
“We need the community to support us and to report any suspicious activity to your nearest law enforcement agency. We appeal to those that have family/relatives buried at the Gladstone Cemetery to visit their graves to make sure they are still in order. We regret the barbaric actions of these criminals, and especially the destroyed graves.”
I recalled how one local resident, Cecile van Rensburg, had told me that she had called the police on several occasions when she witnessed people defacing the graves, but nobody came out to look. “All we can do is sit and watch how they destroy the graves,” she said.
Riet also explained that the EPWP workers are in fact currently being used to assist in cleaning the graveyards. “We have EPWP workers now at the Galeshewe and Pioneer cemeteries, busy with cutting trees,” she said.
According to Riet, the municipality does not have enough security personnel to patrol all the cemeteries and called on the SAPS to assist in this regard.
However, as I walked back to my car on Tuesday afternoon, I realised that things are not going to get better. Gladstone Cemetery is one of many that are being vandalised and carried away and sold off piece by piece to unscrupulous scrap metal dealers.
The thought occurred to me, that if Sol Plaatje Municipality’s security services and the SAPS do not come up with some sort of intervention, I don’t see how there will be any hope for the rest of the cemeteries in and around Kimberley.
