City council pushes for children’s cremations

THE Bulawayo City Council is pushing for all children who die aged 10-years and below to be cremated as the city faces a burial space crisis.

This comes amid revelations that the Pumula South burial site, which was recently gazetted by Government, is unsuitable for adult burials as the underground soil was largely rocky raising speculation that the local authority did not conduct any feasibility study at the site.

According to the latest council minutes, the local authority has since decided that starting from this year all children aged 10 years and below as well as paupers would be cremated to free up the burial space.

Council said consent would be sought from parents to conduct cremations noting that it will be cheaper to cremate children than bury them.

“Due to pressure for burial space at cemeteries and the amount of space taken up by infants it had now been decided, in conjunction with the central hospitals that an arrangement be made where all the infants (including paupers) should, starting from next [this] year be cremated so that we free up the burial space.

Of late, council has been encouraging people to cremate their beloved ones, saying burial space at cemeteries was fast running out.

From a traditional perspective, locals are generally reluctant to cremate their relatives, opting for burials.

Only 13 cremations were recorded in December last year, compared to 533 burials. Bulawayo currently has eight cemetery sites – Old Luveve, Luveve Extension, Luveve 3, Hyde Park, West Park, Lady Stanley, Pumula South and Athlone Avenue with a death rate of about 400 people per month.

The city also has a private cemetery at Trenance and a proposed cemetery at Marvel Township which lies between the Bulawayo-Harare Road and the Bulawayo-Harare Railway Line. - Chronicle.