Athlone Cemetery to be decommissioned

07 January 2022

Vimbayi Mahachi

Bulawayo City Council (BCC) is set to close Athlone West Cemetery as is has reached full capacity.

The swift population growth around Zimbabwe’s urban areas has seen burial space running out.

As a result the Town Clerk Christopher Dube has made an official announcement in a statement.

“The City of Bulawayo would like to inform the public and valuable stakeholders that burial space at Athlone West Cemetery has been exhausted,” he said.

The decommissioning will take place on the 7th of January 2022. BCC is set to take over Umvutcha Cemetery which is in Trenance Suburb.

The commissioning of Umvutcha will take place thereafter.

Athlone West Cemetery will now be open only for non regular funerals, as per statement.
Second interments and those who have reserved graves will continue burying their loved ones there.

Umvutcha Cemetery was once privately owned by AP Glendenning (Pvt) Limited company including the new residential area close to the area known as Neqi Suburb.

The cemetery has an estimated 45 000-grave capacity to ease a shortage of burial space.

The City has been battling burial space shortage following the decommissioning of West Park, Luveve, Athlone and Hyde Park cemeteries a few years back.

Currently the Local Authority will be operating Luveve Extension and Lady Stanley before Umvutcha Cemetery is commissioned.

In 2018 Bulawayo councillors were pushing for the mandatory cremation for those under 25 years of age as the city runs out of burial space.

The local authority has tried to urge residents to opt for cremation and double interment, but the uptake is low due to cultural and religious beliefs.

Talking to Zim GBC News Bukhosi Nyathi from Seventh Day Adventist church said he is against the notion of cremation quoting a Bible verse which says,

“For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.”

He said this verse from the Bible holds with many Christians in Zimbabwe to oppose cremation.

“I want my body interred intact and I feel that nature should take its course, instead of hastening my return to dust,” he added.

During the process of cremation a human body is subjected to intense heat ranging from between 500C (930F) and 800C. What happens to the ashes of the deceased is up to the family’s choice to decide.

A lady who only wanted to be named Gogo MaNdlovu told Zim GBC News in an interview that she is against cremation.

” Mntanomtanami thina abanye siyabe sifuna ukuthethela lapha lalaphaya. Lokuyathanyela sifake amaluba okulele omunye wethu. Pho singamtshisa siyakwenza ngaphi lokho. Vele kuyazila .”

Some of us we speak and appease the dead once in a while or clean and place flowers on the gravesites of our loved ones. If we burn them how will we do that. Anyway it’s a taboo.

Another elderly lady named Nomusa Moyo said cremation would be a good idea taking onto consideration that witches take advantage of bodies of the dead and eat their flesh as they are alleged to be cannibals.

” Singamtshisa umuntu wethu abathakathi ngeke bamudle. Ngakho ukutshisa kungcono kwesinye isikhathi. Yikuthi asikujayelanga .”

If we burn our loved one witches will have nothing to feast on. Thus cremation is an advantage to some extent. Just that we aren’t used to it.

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However, since the cemeteries are slowly being moved further out of the City Centre where there is space, maybe people will accept and adopt cremation as a burial option.

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