EDITORIAL | Where places of dignity have been turned into danger zones

Enter at your own risk — that is the sign that should greet visitors to cemeteries in the Buffalo City Metro. Long grass and out-of-control weeds, broken fencing and vandalised tombstones have become an all too familiar sight at Cambridge, Haven Hills, Buffalo Flats and Mtsotso in Mdantsane. Residents said finding the graves of loved ones was “a mission”.

The complaints are not new. The condition ofBCM’s cemeterieshas been steadily deteriorating over the years. It has gone beyond just being unkept and vandalised.

It has now become a fertile hunting ground for criminals. When a woman visiting the Cambridge cemetery says she no longer feels safe going alone, the municipality’s “maintenance problem” has already become a safety problem. For funeral parlours, it has become a risky business too.

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One business owner told how his staff had been held up at gunpoint and a vehicle and sound system stolen. Brazen, daylight armed robbery. The funeral parlour now relies on a local crime forum group to keep watch when setting up funerals. If they did, they would have maintained an acceptable level of cleanliness and prioritised safety for everyone, including their own workers.

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