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Yeukai Karengezeka, Herald Correspondent
Chenai, a young mother, emerged from a small, one room house, carrying dirty plates and trailed by her curious three-year-old son.
Just a stone’s throw away, the Nyatsime Cemetery, run by Chitungwiza Municipality, stood as a stark reminder of life’s fragility.
The toddler wandered towards the graves, lost in play, while Chenai continued with her chores, seemingly unfazed.
In a striking reversal, death — once feared and revered — has become a familiar presence in this community.
Traditions that once governed the living and the dead now hold little significance, and the once-sacred boundaries between life and death have blurred, as homes and graves co-exist in close proximity.
In this community, children play among tombstones, oblivious to the gravity of mortality, and daily people go about their businesses, chit-chatting along their forever silent neighbours in the cemetery.
The young mother said she has been living in the area for five years now, she doesn’t mind her location, as long as she has a roof over her heard, all is fair and square.
“There is nothing awkward about staying here close to the graves. My family has become used to this environment and what matters most is that we own the place.
“I bought my stand from the council in 2006, but l was evicted by some land barons who claimed ownership of the same stand and l relocated to this area,” she said.
Chenai is one among many inhabitants of this community, who are mostly media-shy as they are illegal settlers, who have left council with little space to bury the dead.
Last week, Chitungwiza acting housing director Mr Tendai Chinganga told stakeholders during a Strategic Planning Review Workshop that the local authority was facing the risk of running out of graveyards due to continued invasions by illegal and daring settlers.
“At Nyatsime Cemetery we have a big challenge of illegal settlers who are continuing to encroach into the cemetery, erecting their houses.
“We run the risk of running out of grave space. We will be lucky to go to the year 2025 still having some land if nothing is done to address the issue,” he said.
In the past, when council sought to forcibly eject the illegal settlers, they went to court and the right to shelter prevailed, where it didn’t, the illegal settlers would be moved but stubbornly return.
Once revered as hallowed grounds, cemeteries have become an unlikely solution to housing woes.
Driven by desperation, people are erecting makeshift shelters amid the tombstones and moulds of dirt.
While council blames the illegal settlers, the settlers in equal measure blame the authorities who they accuse of dismally failing to deliver services.
Mr Pembaton Runesu, who lives near the cemetery, accused Chitungwiza Municipality of encroaching into residential areas.
“Our situation is sad and our living environment is not normal. What I know is that amongst us are people with full council papers that are living in this area. It is council that is continuously extending their cemetery to where we are staying yet there is vast land they can extend to,” he said.
Nyatsime Area chairman Mr Jeremiah Mambingadya echoed the same sentiments, stating that council’s ineptitude has led to the status quo.
“There are over 12 800 households in this area, but the setup is not right, council is to blame for this mess,” he said.
Hope is now hinged on the masterplan, that is now a requirement and is expected to bring order.
“As concerned residents, we went to council seeking clarity and guidance on the boundaries of the cemetery so that there is sanity, but up to now, there is no feedback from them.
“Such a boundary would help demarcate the graveyards and human settlements,” he said.
He added that people were willing to be moved provided that they were offered alternative accommodation.
Chitungwiza Municipality spokesperson, Mr Tafadzwa Kachiko, said the local authority was seized with the Nyatsime issue and would take appropriate measures to address the challenges.
“We are taking appropriate steps to address the issue and it is premature to disclose our next step. There is clearly a laid-out map for the cemetery. Council is losing sleep over invasions of Nyatsime cemetery by desperate home seekers who get allocated stands by alleged land barons.”
In June last year, Mr Kachiko added, council demolished several structures in the precincts of the cemetery, but they were stopped in their tracks after affected residents secured a court order for the demolitions to stop.
Beyond the cemetery crisis, residents face pressing health and education challenges, including lack of water sources, clinics and public schools.
Online Reporter