adminNqobile Tshili Chronicle Correspondent
BULAWAYO faces a crisis after council shut down West Park Cemetery as it has run out of burial space, with a new site in Pumula South meant to save the situation yet to be gazetted.
The local authority has said only Luveve cemetery is operational, but it is also fast running out of space.
Recently, council started limiting burials at West Park to 10 per day and moved all burials of children to Luveve cemetery, before the latest decision to close the cemetery.
Bulawayo Mayor Councillor Martin Moyo yesterday told a full council meeting that West Park was officially closed last Friday.
He was responding to Ward 22 Councillor Rodney Jele who had inquired on how much space remained at West Park Cemetery for burial.
“I want to refer to annexure C item six where it says ‘All burials for children had now been moved to Luveve cemetery as there was no longer space at West Park cemetery.’ So my question is how much space and how long will we continue using West Park cemetery for burials?” asked Clr Jele.
Clr Moyo said the city was still waiting for a directive from the government following their application for a new piece of land to be gazetted for burial purposes.
“West Park Cemetery was closed last Friday. It’s full to capacity. I remember last Friday one of the city’s distinguished residents Ndubiwa called inquiring about burial space after he wanted one of his relatives who died in South Africa to be buried at West Park. The only remaining burial space belongs to those people who had made their reservations,” said Clr Moyo.
He said the Ministry of Home Affairs was taking long to gazette land they had identified.
Bulawayo United Residents Association (Bura) chairman Winos Dube said the Home Affairs ministry was dragging its feet to gazette a new burial site for the city, thereby, creating a crisis for residents.
Last night, the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Obedingwa Mguni said: “It’s a bit too late now to follow up and see how far that application has gone. If it was earlier I would have contacted the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary. “
Dube said the government must expedite the process to avert a crisis.
“The West Park cemetery issue is something that we’ve been talking about for a very long time. We’re just wondering what will happen since the cemetery has been closed.
“What alternative are we going to have as a city because the Luveve Cemetery is also almost full as well,” he said.
“We can’t blame the city council on this. We know they long applied to the government for land. We wish the government can give special attention to this problem before it gets out of hand.”
Online Reporter