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The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls on the ANC-led Emfuleni Municipality to maintain the cemeteries in Vanderbijlpark, Evaton and Vereeniging properly.

The DA has been inundated with complaints from residents about these cemeteries being unmaintained, overgrown and unkept.

The municipality’s failure to address this issue shows a lack of respect for the dead and their families.

The DA visited the cemeteries to assess the extent of the problem, and was shocked by what it found.

At the Evaton Cemetery, overgrown weeds and long-time uncut grass is blocking visibility of the graves and tombstones.

Palisade fencing is also broken in several places.

At Vanderbijlpark cemetery, the grass and weeds are towering over the graves.

The fence is also broken, which has encouraged people to use it as a thoroughfare, and they have trampled footpaths through the cemetery.

Litter had also been strewn all over the place.

Vereeniging Cemetery is located in an industrial site with no fencing at all.

And the tombstones are almost completely covered by weeds and grass.

The grounds and graves in the Boipatong and Sharpeville cemeteries, where victims of the Sharpeville and Boipatong Massacres are buried, are also broken and filthy.

These cemeteries are only cleaned up once a year in preparation for Human Rights Day commemorations.

The Emfuleni Municipality should urgently implement frequent cleanups at all its cemeteries.

In complete contrast, in neighbouring Midvaal, which is governed by the DA, the cemeteries are properly maintained, as they should be. 

Issued by The DA