De Swardt reacted in a Mayoral Committee meeting on Mayor Charles Standers' recommendation that councillors must regularly visit graveyards in the George area to ensure the burial grounds are always in tip top condition. Standers said he knows contractors are used at all the graveyards, but that he blames officials for not monitoring the contractors to do their work properly. Some councillors did inspect graveyards the previous day.
It was then that De Swardt saw red and said: "I know that what I'm going to say now is going to make me very unpopular. It is not the work of councillors to inspect graveyards." Then he lashed out at senior officials who were present in the meeting. "We have directors and officials. They get paid to do the job, but when they feel their salary is not good enough, then they run to the unions or organise protest marches. How many times have we discuss the graveyard situation in this council?"
According to De Swardt there are many graves with no names. "In many cases we don't even now who lies where. It seems like they just dig holes and throw the dead in it like they do with dogs. Whe are working with humans here. They are our loved ones."
De Swardt also expressed his concern about an approximately 350 meter fence that had been stolen at the Blanco graveyard and several graves and gravestones that were damaged at various graveyards.
Cope-councillor, Wilbur Harris asked the mayor: "What happened to the money that the Western Cape Provincial Government gave the George Municipality to upgrade graveyards?"
Standers gave the Directorate of Finance instruction to investigate the 'missing funds' and report back to him.
According to a Mayco report by Radie Loubser from Parks and Recreation there are nine cemeteries in George and four in the Uniondale DMA that are under the control of the municipality. Only three are really active, namely York Street, Thembalethu and the new Touwsranten cemetery. The are also a couple of private cemeteries in a bad state of neglect.
The York Street cemetery grows at the rate of some 30 graves per month. According to Loubser's report major problems at York Street include poor drainage, graves caving in and big pools of water standing for extended periods after rain.
"The soil geology is quite simply not amenable to a graveyard. The general public often voice dissatisfaction with the situation. In general, the cemeteries are abused and vandalised by criminal elements. Many graves are unmarked and records are rather dubious as to the identity and particulars of the deceased. The makeshift crosses put up by most undertakers rot or disappear fairly quickly. Permanent markers with a scrap value will be stole unless proper security can be provided."
Officials in the cross fire refused to comment, but the George Herald is aware that the ability of some of the contractors employed by council to maintain the cemeteries, have been questioned in the past.
An official was recently suspended amid allegations that he was selling plots in the cemetries to undertakers and pocketing the money meant for the municipality himself.
* George burgemeester, Charles Standers, en die raad se hoofsweep, Flip de Swardt het tydens verlede week se burgemeesterkomitee vergadering uitgevaar oor die toestand van George se begraafplase. De Swardt het munisipale direkteure en amptenare kaalvuis aangevat en blameer vir die verval van begraafplase.
The general condition of the graveyards in George led to a heated discussion at last week's Mayoral Committee meeting. Here a broken headstone can be seen at the Hibernia Street graveyard. Photo: Christo Vermaak
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