Durban — An eThekwini resident has expressed her sadness and anger after finding both her parents’ graves being eroded by a sewage spill that has been flowing down through Mobeni Heights Cemetery for days.
This comes after a burst sewerage pipe at the cemetery washed away some of the graves.
Lethinjabulo Phungula said her family discovered the problems when they were planning to erect tombstones on her parents’ graves.
She said after finding the state the cemetery was in, the family had to put the ceremony on hold until the municipality fixed the damage caused by the sewage.
On learning about the cemetery crisis through a Facebook post, ActionSA leader Zwakele Mncwango undertook an oversight visit to the cemetery on Tuesday.
Mncwango said when he heard about the spill that was causing damage to the graves, in the process disturbing the human remains as the graves were eroded by the sewage flow, he decided to take action and go see it for himself.
Mncwango said: “As Africans, we view this as desecration, and feel like the ‘resting’ human remains at this cemetery have been disrespected and tortured.”
Mncwango said this incident could have been avoided.
“They have been promising to fix this leak as from April already, allowing the problem to escalate to this now. People pay rates, even for the cemeteries as well.
“About three graves have been washed away by this sewage flow in this cemetery alone, and that is such a travesty to the departed.
“This has affected the family members massively, causing the Phungula family that had planned to erect tombstones on their parents’ graves so much hurt,” Mncwango said.
The eThekwini Municipality Water and Sanitation Unit head Ednick Msweli visited the cemetery on Tuesday morning, to receive a first-hand report on the extent of the damage at the Mobeni Heights Cemetery.
“The damaged sewer has resulted in some pollution, affecting about four nearby graves.
“A contractor will have to be appointed to repair the damage to contain the pollution that is currently visible in the area,” he said.
Msweli has since dispatched a team to investigate the source of the sewage leak.
“Our teams are on site with jetting machines to assess the extent of the damage as well as the work that is required to repair the pipe,” Msweli added.
He further said as an intervention to prevent future re-occurrences, the Water and Sanitation Unit had requested that markers be installed in cemeteries so that grave diggers are aware of where sewer and water lines run.
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Daily News