Chronicle Editor
Eddious Masundire Shumba and Kingstone Kwembeya,
Bulawayo
Residents of Bulawayo and other people living outside the city were recently shocked to hear that the Bulawayo City Council had increased the charges for all its services which include burial costs in the city.
We heard that the city council had submitted its proposals to the Government and some of them were already approved. This has angered some local residents’ associations which feel that this will put extra burden on the already struggling residents who can no longer afford to have at least two meals a day.
The reports said burial for a local child or infant will now cost a whopping $800 while for an adult based in Bulawayo the charge is $1 500 while adults who were based outside Bulawayo but anywhere in the country and those from other countries like South Africa and Britain will now be expected to even go deeper in their pockets to raise a shocking $2 500 for them to be laid in any of the city’s cemeteries.
We were also surprised to hear that cremation charges have also gone up at a time when the city fathers should be encouraging residents to take cremation as an alternative since the local authority has complained about shortage of burial space in Bulawayo which is fast running out. Although I agree that the Bulawayo City Council needs to increase its rates for it to improve service delivery I still believe its very bad and its unfair to increase burial costs and other related services because the city has run out of burial space. I hope the sections of the urban council act can be used to acquire land from surrounding farms.
Residents have also been informed that there were also some proposals to have double burials where two or more people who don’t even know each other are buried in one grave. This did not go down very well with us as residents of this great city because double burial has never been part of our culture, just like cremation. As if that was not enough those who wish to erect tombstones for their beloved ones who are already buried at the council cemeteries have also not been spaced as they found themselves in much more difficult situation because for them to get permission to do they must first pay $800 which is not even the cost of erecting the tombstone.
The Bulawayo City Council should know that residents are suffering, that’s why in their books they are owed millions of dollars by some residents yet they expect the same residents to pay new increased prices.
We expect the council to reverse that decision and use meaningful percentages to increase their rates since the residents can not afford that. The Government should intervene and protect residents from these exorbitant prices because we are now very tired.
Online Reporter