Note to Editors: Please find attached English soundbite by Cllr Ntombi Mokoena and Sesotho soundbite by Cllr Diphapang Mofokeng.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Phumelela Local Municipality will write to the Municipal Manager to urgently rectify the inconsistent maintenance of municipal cemeteries in Warden.
A recent DA oversight inspection has revealed that the Township Cemetery (Ezenzeleni/Zamani) is consistently maintained, properly fenced, and kept clean by staff appointed through the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). At the same time, the Warden Town Cemetery is left in a disgraceful state, overgrown, unkempt, and lacking even basic security.
This deliberate disparity is compounded by financial discrimination: the neglected Town Cemetery plots are sold at a premium price of approximately R2,000, while the well-maintained Township plots are significantly cheaper, in the R400 range.
It is unacceptable that the municipality charges a premium rate for gravesites in one area, yet refuses to extend the same basic, dignified maintenance services to those residents.
Families who use the Warden Town Cemetery are compelled to privately hire cleaners to tend to their loved ones’ graves, effectively paying twice for a service the municipality should provide.
The continued deployment of dedicated municipal teams to one cemetery proves that the municipality has the capacity to perform this function, but is deliberately choosing to neglect the other.
We demand that Phumelela immediately cease this unjust and discriminatory practice. Respect for the dead and dignity for the bereaved should not be determined by geography or the price of a gravesite.
We call for maintenance services to be urgently extended to include the Warden Town Cemetery to ensure a uniform standard of dignified upkeep for all residents of Warden.