Joburg City set to allow more coffins in one grave

SA’s municipalities running out of space

The City of Johannesburg plans to change its by-laws governing burials to allow for more coffins to be buried in one grave.

This, according to themetro, is part of a plan to optimise the use of burial space in the city as it is running out of space.

The city’s by-laws currently allow for up to three coffins to be buried in one grave and in most cases, this has only happened for pauper burials.

Last week, Sowetan reported that 42 corpses which were stuck on the busy M1 highway after the trailer lost its load were destined for mass burials of up to four coffins in one grave.

City Parks spokeswoman Jenny Moodley said more than half of the city’s 42 cemeteries, including Avalon in Soweto, had reached their burial capacity and Johannesburg was quickly running out of space for burials.

“We will need to properly amend our by-laws to utilise our burial space more optimally,” Moodley said.

She said the city was in the process of reviewing the bylaws which would be tabled before council early next year.

Moodley said proper documentation and a deep enough grave, of up to four metres, were prerequisites for four coffins in one grave.

The eThekwini Municipality in Durban, which may run out of burial space in the next few months, has announced that cremations may be imposed from next year.

Cemeteries in the municipality have been putting a limit on the number of burials that can be done in aweek and residents were encouraged to recycle old family graves for new burials.

Human Rights Institute of South Africa’s Corlett Letlojane criticised the mooted bylaw changes saying this was not in line with the Bill of Rights enshrined in the constitution.

“People have to be given an opportunity to express their views on these by-laws ... we call on the Human Rights Commission and the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities to investigate violations here and play a monitoring role.”

SA Funeral Practitioners Association’s Gauteng chairman Thabo Banda said people were slowly embracing the burial of more than one coffin in one grave.