COVID-19: Gauteng sees rising demand for burials

Joburg City Parks said it had mobilized more resources to deal with the increasing number of burials in the city.

This as Gauteng continues to witness more burials daily since the outbreak of the third wave of COVID-19 in the country.

There are fears that Johannesburg could in the near future face a lack of burial sites.

Before the arrival of COVID-19 City Parks would dig and prepare at least 120 graves for a weekend, but now the situation is completely different as funerals are now conducted daily except for Mondays.

The devastating impact of the virus is now being felt as the number of deaths increase at an alarming rate.

On Friday alone there were 150 funerals and on Saturday 256 families had to bury their loved ones.

City Parks’ Bryne Maduka said they had been forced to deploy more resources.

“We have now made sure than even when funerals are done, our teams keep on digging until it’s dark. We have instructed the teams to only stop digging when it’s dark.”

He said at this stage they still had more space, but that the Avalon Cemetery continued to experience a high volume of funerals.

There are still more than a million burial plots across the city and City Parks said it was ready for the influx of funerals.

-EWN

In other news – Touching scenes: Skeem Saam actress Nokuzola Mlengana (Sis Ouma) died before her time

The funeral service of Skeem Saam actress Nokuzola Mlengana, who played Sis Ouma took place today. It was broadcast live on UCR FM Facebook page from 8 am.

Many of her fans and colleagues in the entertainment industry couldn’t bid farewell to her as funerals are allowed to have only 50 people. Only close friends and family were allowed to attend the funeral. Learn More