Note to Editors: Please find attached English and Sesotho soundbites by Cllr Dennis Khasudi. See attached pictures here, here, and here.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Moqhaka Municipality will table a motion in Council to compel the municipality to provide equal maintenance, proper fencing, and regular cleaning of all graves in Seeisoville.
Neglecting these burial sites, many with broken fences and overgrown grass, shows an apparent disregard for the dignity of the deceased and their grieving families.
We urge the municipality to prioritise these areas and allocate resources fairly to restore and preserve the dignity of all.
Recent DA oversight inspections have revealed that the Township Cemeteries are neglected, despite the Wespark Cemetery being consistently maintained, properly fenced, and kept clean by municipal officials.
At the same time, the Seeisoville Cemetery is left in a disgraceful state, overgrown, unkept, and lacking even basic security.
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 Seeisoville 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 suggests that the municipality lacks the capacity to perform this function, yet is deliberately choosing to neglect the others.
We demand that the Moqhaka 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 grave.