Rest in peace.

Three famous words meant to serve as a comfort parting shot for the departed. Is there rest? What about the peace? Is there ever such a thing?

Cemeteries were once considered a sacred space where the departed are said to be resting in peace but of late, they are slowly growing to become a place where there is no peaceful rest at all.

It’s a common family custom to regularly visit the graveyard and serves a number of sentimental purposes spiritually and otherwise. I visited the popular Avalon Cemetery in Soweto and was distraught by what I discovered.

Avalon cemetery is a widely used graveyard by people who stay within the greater Johannesburg region and the popular Soweto township. It is located on the south-western corner of Soweto with its main entrance at Chiawelo. Avalon has an aerial coverage of 172 hectares and is famous for being the location of the graves of anti-apartheid icons such as Steve Biko, Lillian Ngoyi, Hector Peterson and Hellen Joseph amongst many others. The primary grave yard has an estimated capacity of 300 000 graves and has since reached maximum capacity. The Johannesburg City Parks (which is responsible for the management of the cemetery) decided to extend the site to add an addition burial area at Avalon. The extended burial area is located towards the N12 high way which connects Johannesburg in Gauteng and the city of Potchefstroom in the North West province. This extension area was a bad idea and I am glad that new burials have since ceased from this extension area for reasons I will unpack shortly.

Now the extension area is concerning.

This area once included a special type of steel wire fence as part of the protection to enclose the graves and this specialized wire fence structure is now no more. The original area of the cemetery had a concrete pillar fence, which is still predominantly intact, though with some parts to be replaced. It’s the missing wire fence protection at the extension area that I would presume, would have heightened the level of criminal activities affecting the cemetery. These include, for example, the inhumane act of stealing of tombstones. I refer to it as inhumane because I don’t think this will be classified as a human act to do for something this symbolic. Families spend thousands of Rands, saving up to cover costs of engraving, installing and erecting tombstones for their loved ones. I have seen some families go overboard with fancy tombstones that rotate or are a replica of a stage, lounge or house. That aspect of the discussion, is an interesting topic for another post, what’s worth mentioning though now is how large and popular the market is for these exaggerated types of tombstones.

My cousin brother passed on in 2009 and it was a tipping point for the family having to cope with such a loss. My family took about 3 years or so after his burial to install a tombstone for him in remembrance. His grave is located on the outskirt of the original cemetery area close to where the extension is located. The tombstones also serve an important aspect at the packed to capacity Avalon Cemetery. You’ll be amazed at how many people often get lost while trying to locate the graves of their loved ones. Having a tombstone erected, somehow limits the chances of one having to get lost while visiting a departed loved one as it makes the grave easily identifiable.

My cousin brother was buried towards the last and outer end of the graves at Avalon (the original one enclosed by a cement fence with pillars) and not in the extension area where the protection wire fence has been totally scraped.

I have an issue with people who fiddle around these areas by performing unscrupulous acts of crime. They are disturbing the peace of those said to be resting in peace. I wonder how they live with themselves. Are they even normal? Are they part of a syndicate? How do they live with themselves?

I can cite a significant number of related stories and events where a family member visiting a grave have shared horror recollections of car hijackings and acts of sheer brutality that would unfold. I would suggest that people shun going to cemeteries alone and at peculiar hours of the morning or night where activity in and around the cemetery is limited for safety purposes.

As mentioned previously, our family installed a tombstone for my cousin who brother passed on in 2009, in his memory. It was a beautiful stone that his mother chose especially for him. As years went on, in dribs and drabs, the tombstone, began to disappear. Stolen and taken out in parts. It was first the headstone then the body stone to no stone at all remaining. The only thing reminiscent of there being a structure erected on his grave was a simply the concrete as foundation.

Upon discovering this, the family was distraught. We always hear of similar stories from others but we never thought it would one day happen to us. This was the first time such an incident has occurred to our family and none of us knew how to react. One thing was certain though, we were torn apart and felt that there are malicious and faceless people out there who don’t want the departed to rest in peace.

Was it orchestrated?

Was it part of a syndicate?

To date, after so many questions and reportings, we still don’t know.

But to fill the void it had scarred us with as a family, my cousin sister, little sister and myself clubbed in some savings to replace the tombstone in our brother’s memory. We did that in 2019 as a way to spend our Christmas together as a family.

It may have felt like a small gesture to us as grandchildren but the implications and impact, particularly for elders in the family, were deep, far-reaching and long-lasting. It soothed the pain, somewhat and we can only hope that this tombstone becomes permanent and that there be peace for us all in our hearts.

We’ll be going there regularly to observe if it’s still intact.

Additional information from http://www.jhbcityparks.com