Buses bring mourners to Avalon Cemetery, passing graves with cot borders

RELATED LINKS: Avalon's thousands of graveside cots There aren't many places in the world where you end up in a cot when you're dead and buried. But in Avalon Cemetery in Soweto there are thousands of cots demarcating graves. Read more Online tool enables search for burial sites The search for the burial sites of family and friends has been made easier by City Parks: it has launched an online database of cemeteries in Johannesburg. Read more City Parks Johannesburg City Parks, a self-contained business owned by the city council, is the new agency responsible for the maintenance and development of Johannesburg's parks and cemeteries. Read more By-laws Read what the City's by-laws say about cemeteries and crematoria. Read more [Acrobat format]

Rows and rows of metal cots demarcate graves in Avalon Cemetery

Cemetery cots to be removed A FAMILIAR sight in Johannesburg's cemeteries is the thousands of metal cots edging individual graves. But now Johannesburg City Parks is to embark on a campaign to have these cots - often neglected or vandalised - removed. March 14, 2005 By Ndaba Dlamini CITY PARKS is to launch a campaign to educate the public on the illegal erection of metal structures or "cots" in cemeteries around Johannesburg. The cots, popular with poorer people, who erect the more affordable cots in place of head stones, tend to rust and break, and are prone to theft and vandalism. Signs informing the public about the illegal structures are being erected at affected cemeteries, says Jenny Moodley, the spokesperson for City Parks. In terms of the City's by-laws regarding cemeteries, "no person shall, without the prior written consent of the officer-in-charge, erect any memorial work in any cemetery or crematorium, or bring any material into a cemetery or crematorium for the purpose of erecting any memorial work". The by-laws also prohibit any person, within any cemetery or crematorium, from placing "any construction or obstruction of any nature whatsoever". The by-laws specifically prohibit the erection of metal cots on any grave. According to City Parks, the cots hinder maintenance crews, making the graves "inaccessible to lawn-mowing equipment". Mowing then becomes "time consuming and very costly". The structures are also "prone to theft and vandalism, and impact on the safety and security of visitors to the cemetery. The end result is that City Parks is having to allocate additional resources to maintain these structures," Moodley says. "The metal structures affect the tranquil setting of the cemeteries as these are sometimes rusted, haphazardly erected, not maintained and are unsightly," she adds. City Parks says grave owners are going to be informed, through newspapers, radio and television, and will be given a notice period to remove the cots. "If the owners fail to comply with the notices, the council may, without incurring any liability to pay compensation, dismantle and dispose of the cots as the council may see fit. Once the cots are removed, any person contravening any provision of the by-laws will be liable for prosecution." Only memorial work constructed and complying with the provisions of Section 26 of the Johannesburg Cemeteries and Crematoria by-laws are allowed. The memorial work can be a headstone, monument, plaque or any other work erected to commemorate any deceased person. The memorial work has to be has to be erected with the written consent of the officer-in-charge. The most affected cemetery is Avalon Cemetery in Soweto, where there are thousands of cots demarcating graves. Permission to use web site material Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as: Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website (www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency (www.joburg.org.za)"; If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original article on this website; The name of the article's author is acknowledged; The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill in this brief online form). Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 Print this Page E-mail this article to a friend Help using Joburg.org.za