The Times newspaper article dated 3 August 2011 entitled, 'Uproar over burial plans' at page 7 bears reference. The CRL Rights Commission has noted the righteous anger by the KwaZulu-Natal traditional and community leaders against the eThekwini Municipality on its recent proposal to ban burials on Sundays, to fine late comer mourners and the recycling of graves. The commission appreciates efforts undertaken by the eThekwini Municipality to address the lack of burial space but l would like to advise the municipality to do more consultations with the affected communities before any by-laws are implemented.
The commission would like to reiterate that various cultural and religious communities including the respected national and provincial traditional leader regard burial grounds and graves as sacred sites and as places that reflect their cultural, spiritual, religious significance that identify them. There are those communities that believe that burial spaces are a bridge and link to their ancestors.
The Commission has been handling numerous complaints on the lack of burial spaces, destruction of historical and ancestral raves and threats of developmental projects on various burial grounds. Further ore the Commission's Public Education and Advocacy unit recently visited the eThekwini local municipality to engage with all relevant stakeholders and it was agreed in that meeting that:
- The issue of re-use of graves will affect mainly the Jewish, African, and Muslim communities
- The Orthodox Jewish community does not allow any interference with their graves, while the reformed Jewish Community is likely to be flexible on the matter
- Certain African communities view burial sites as sacrep and therefore must be respected at all time
- Re-use of graves for burial purposes has always been accepted in some communities if members of the same community/clan re buried together.
Based on the above concerns and challenges, the CRL Rights Commission would like to request various national, provincial government departments and local municipalities to broadly take into account cultural and religious rights of communities before they embark on any activity that will affect cultural and religious rights.
The Commission is deeply concerned that heritage and environment legislations or regulations are ignored by various municipalities and would encourage that all municipalities when dealing with alternative cemeteries/burial] sites should be able to stand constitutional test when coming to cultural and religious rights of communities. This means that any limitation of community rights must satisfy the factors outlined in section 36 of the Constitution of 1996.
The commission therefore urges all local municipalities in the KwaZulu-Natal Province and other affected provinces to broadly community and traditional leadership consultation with regard to the various cultural and religious practices of burial methods, days, significance of ancestral communication, and the recycling of graves.
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Botle Letsebe
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