Family in Tshwane forced to pay gravedigging cost for loved one amid strike

A family in Tshwane said it had to fork out money to hire a tractor to dig a grave so that they could bury their loved one this weekend.

This follows a pay dispute between the city of Tshwane and a service provider responsible for digging graves in the municipality’s cemeteries.

The publication understands that the service provider had not been paid for over a month’s work and as a result, had downed tools.

Rhouda Diamond said when she went to the Lotus Gardens Cemetery to check on her grandfather’s grave, she was told it had not yet been dug due to a strike by gravediggers.

“That lady told us that she can only assist us if we bring our own TLB [Tractor Loader Backhoe] then she showed us a site,” she said.

Diamond said the family then leased their own TLB to dig the grave as her grandfather Jacob Diamond, wanted to be buried in his hometown.

“Everyone is buried at Lotus, now we have to go to Soshanguve Crossing and it’s transport money that we have not budgeted for, the bus and other things so we got a TLB,” she said.

The city of Tshwane said it was working on resolving the payment dispute with the service provider.

-EWN

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