June 9, 2006
By Lucille Davie
AVALON Cemetery in Soweto has a new, tidy look - the City spent R7-million in the past year on roads, trees and regular grass cutting.
Although there are still several dust roads in the cemetery, the major arterials through the cemetery have been tarred or laid with interlocking bricks. The last dust roads will be tarred in the coming year, says Alan Buff, manager of technical support and horticultural specialist with Johannesburg City Parks.
The tall grass growing between graves has been removed and replaced with short kikuyu grass, which is cut once a week, he adds. Rusty, dilapidated metal cots demarcating graves have been removed, and no new cots are allowed. The custom of using cots was borrowed from Mpumalanga where they were used to discourage animals from digging up shallow graves in rocky soil.
In the past, the cots have made access to the graves very difficult, and maintenance teams have been unable to remove weeds and cut long grass.
Some 2 000 indigenous trees have been planted, with more planned. A cheerful rose garden has also been planted at the entrance to the 172ha Avalon cemetery.
Burial space
The cemetery still has space for three years of primary burials, by which time there'll be 500 000 graves.
The City is actively encouraging secondary burials, where people bury relatives in the same grave. "The community has responded well," says Buff, "and it's cheaper – R200 for a secondary burial versus R550 for primary burials."
The original grave is dug two metres down, with the second grave being 1.2m from the surface. In the future a third burial will take place in the same grave. At present, some 17 percent are buried in the same grave.
Buff adds that some families are beginning to cremate their dead –where previously no cremations took place, two percent are now being cremated.
Of the 33 cemeteries in the city, 27 are already full. The oldest two cemeteries, Braamfontein and Brixton, still have limited family grave space, and secondary burials are also taking place.
The City has made provision for new cemeteries. Last year the 200ha Waterval cemetery was laid out and will soon see its first burials.
A new 60ha cemetery in Diepsloot is in the process of being prepared. The City has just bought an old farmhouse in the corner of the cemetery, which will be used as a depot for the maintenance of the cemetery. At 2 000 burials per hectare, this cemetery will accommodate 120 000 burials.
Other cemeteries are planned in Eikenhof (184ha), Riverlea (17,5ha) and a site in Midrand.
Buff says he's estimated that the city still has space for one million burials.
The eradication of weeds and long grass makes gravestones visible
Hector Pieterson's grave
In the meantime, Hector Pieterson's grave in Avalon will have wreaths placed on it on Friday, 16 June, commemorating the anniversary of the 1976 uprising.
It was on 16 June 30 years ago that learners confronted police in protest against being taught in Afrikaans.
Twelve-year-old Pieterson came to symbolise the brutality of apartheid when a photograph of him being carried after being shot, went around the world.
Pieterson's mother, Dorothy Molefi, will be present at the wreath-laying ceremony.
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