Cape Town - Cemeteries around the Western Cape have not been spared by the recent storms, with several graveyards reporting that burials had been suspended.
Patricia van der Ross, the Mayco member for community services and health, said that while these conditions hampered operations they had not prevented the City’s cemeteries from remaining open.
Van der Ross said that despite the extreme weather conditions, a high number of burials (117) took place over the past weekend.
“The City would sincerely like to thank the public and undertakers for their co-operation and patience during these adverse weather conditions and impacts on graves due to high water table challenges,” she said.
Mopping-up operations are continuing in the Maitland cemetery, according to ward 56 councillor Cheslyn Steenberg.
“I have also noticed that the amount of burials has decreased substantially during this time, but officials are doing their level best to ensure that graves are dry and that they don’t bury loved ones in wet graves,” he explained.
“The operations of the cemetery didn’t stop. It is just the amount of graves being open for burial has decreased, the reopening of graves has also stopped.”
He described the flooding as unfortunate and devastating for the loved ones of those buried in the cemetery.
Steenberg also advised families to familiarise themselves with the areas that have taken on a lot of water within the cemetery before signing the consent forms.
“When they meet with those particular spaces, it is very important that loved ones read. We now have a situation where graves are soaked in water,” Steenberg added.
Meanwhile, after closely examining the burial conditions in the Drakenstein municipal area, the municipality confirmed that burials could resume yesterday.
The Drakenstein Municipality had previously suspended all burial activities in municipal cemeteries from July 10 to July 15.
The municipality will be designating three additional graves every day from Tuesday until Sunday, July 21.
Eda Barnard, acting executive director for community services, said this would help with any backlogs caused by the weather.
“During these six days, the municipality will only be able to open up graves registered as ‘extra deep’ on our system due to the high water table.
“No significant damage was reported at any of the municipal cemeteries, except trees that fell over at some of them,” Barnard said.
Affected cemeteries were Champagne Cemetery in Wellington and Klein Parys Cemetery in Paarl.