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Ngcobo warns of burial space running out

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South Africa's big cities are running out of space for cemeteries, and tough decisions will have to be made soon on whether municipalities can continue to provide public burial grounds "as we know them today".
This was the warning given in Durban on Wednesday by Thembinkosi Ngcobo, head of Parks, Recreation and Cemeteries in the eThekwini Metro Council.

Ngcobo, who is also the newly elected president of the national Institute of Environment and Recreation Management, said the institute hoped to present a variety of alternative solutions to government decision-makers soon, including the possibility of recycling graves after 10 years and promoting public awareness campaigns for cremation rather than burial.

One of the presentations to be delivered at the institute's convention in Durban on Thursday involves speeding up the decomposition rate of wooden coffins in local cemeteries by introducing a variety of natural fungi into the soil.

Ngcobo said he was aware that the issue of burial was a sensitive subject because of religious, cultural and spiritual factors.

"But the fact is that we are running out of space. In eThekwini, almost all of our cemeteries are full now, and as managers of these facilities we see that the burial service is not sustainable. Many municipalities in other parts of the country are facing similar challenges."

Ngcobo said he also knew that recycling of graves and cremation was unpopular in several sections of society.

"So we need to go out and encourage alternatives, such as cremation."

Ngcobo said that as recently as five years ago there was an average of four burials every Saturday at the Red Hill Cemetery in Durban, whereas the norm now was around 65 burials every Saturday - with the majority of people being buried in the age group 18-35.

It was also important to encourage cheaper burial ceremonies, he said, noting that many poor families were paying an average of R16 000 to bury their loved ones.

"Our leaders and politicians need to lead by example and perhaps emulate the late Joe Slovo, who had a very low-key funeral and was buried in a simple coffin which cost something like R300."

He also challenged members to make the institute more visible, more hands-on and better able to influence government policy and by-laws.

"At the moment, many of the issues we deal with are considered to be somewhere around number 13 on the agenda, so we have to rise to the challenge of making ourselves more visible and becoming a household name."

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Last modified 2006-09-18 09:13 AM