Families left sad, angry after tombstone robbers strike
whose cousin was murdered in November last year, tells how the tombstone from his grave at a Joburg cemetery was pilfered just weeks after it had been erected.
“The family had spent a lot of money on the tombstone and are still heartbroken that it has been stolen. There is simply no respect for dead people.”
A big problem, he believes, is the lack of security at cemeteries. “I visited a number of cemeteries in Joburg and most of them haven’t been looked after. The gates have been taken down, and there is barely any security. Also, there is little or no maintenance done.”
Rose Funeral Parlour in Soweto says it is also alar med by these robberies.
“We’ve had a number of clients come in to tell us that their beloved’s tombstones have been stolen. “It’s really sad considering the exorbitant prices people pay for tombstones,” says for mer top boxer Dingaan Thobela, who owns Rose Funeral Parlour.
At the Brixton Cemetery – where one side of the perimeter has no fence and other parts are in disrepair – its caretaker is unable to put a figure on how many headstones have been stolen.
“We don’t monitor the number of tombstones at the cemetery so we actually have no idea how many have gone missing,” he says.
It’s a burgeoning crime, says Mike Bolhuis, a specialist investigator. At first he was only receiving a few complaints of what he calls “tomb ghouling” every few months, but in the past six months he had received and verified about 40 separate incidents.
His infor mants explain that undertakers often place “orders” with criminals to steal from graveyards.
“They would be looking for a particular gravestone, and the thieves would take advantage of the general lack of security around cemeteries to steal the specified design.
“The epitaphs would then be removed and the stone sold.” While Bolhuis has confronted the undertakers fingered by his infor mants, the lack of evidence often means there’s little his team can do to ensure prosecution.
It’s also incredibly dif ficult to get CCTV footage from around many of the targeted cemeteries, with few putting in any real for ms of security on the grounds, or even outside the grounds, he says.
“What we need now is statistics. There are many of these crimes that remain unreported and we need everyone to come forward. Then we can escalate this to the police or government,” says Bolhuis.
Reggie Moloi, the senior manager of cemeteries and crematoria at Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo, says it is working closely with the JMPD, SAPS and its park rangers, who patrol cemeteries regularly. “Private secur- ity deployed at the entrance to cemeteries are also conducting random searches to ensure unscrupulous stone masons are not entering the cemetery with angle grinders and generators.”
Moloi urges families that have experienced grave theft or vandalism to report it to the police. “This will ensure that these incidents are accordingly documented and that the necessary resources are deployed to combat any criminality in the city’s cem- eteries.
“We’d further like to advise families to consider the installation of flat tombstones or headstones as the upright tombstones are more likely to be vandalised or damaged.”
*not real names