Complaints against the Tshwane Council, regarding poor service delivery in the Laudium area, continue to pour in.
For long now, residents have been complaining about long grass on sidewalks, rubbish being dumped on many street corners, water leakages, falling lights and traffic signs, etc. One of the complaints made over years, that has still not been attended to by the Council, is the fallen floodlight at the Laudium Soccer Stadium, which can be seen laying on the ground, as one drives down 19th Ave. The other ongoing complaint, is the poor state of the Laudium Cemetery, which members of the community are being forced to maintain, as the Council clearly does not seem to be interested in attending to the concerns of the community. Shockingly a new complaint has arisen concerning the Laudium Cemetery, whereby a grave was not properly dug up for a burial that was held recently. The family of Donavan Gordan (75), who was buried this past weekend, launched a scathing attack against the Council for not ensuring that the grave to be used for his burial was properly dug up. Donavan of Grey Street Laudium, who passed on the previous Monday (Oct 13) was buried this past Saturday (Oct 19). Family members and friends attending the funeral at the Laudium Cemetery were shocked to see that the undertaker was not able to lower the coffin of the deceased into the grave because the grave was not wide enough as per standard council specifications. Pastor Kevin Naicker who was officiating the funeral services told the Laudium Sun, “It was embarrassing for the family of 75-year old Donavan Gordan who was buried this past Saturday at the Laudium Cemetery. We had to hire the guys who hang around at the cemetery to dig up the grave properly, so that we could lower the coffin of the deceased into the grave. The obvious reason why the coffin did not fit inside the grave was that the grave was not properly dug up. It was not prepared the right way. The council workers responsible for digging the graves, clearly did not check the grave after they dug it up, to make sure that the size was according to the specific specifications which have been in practice for all these years,” a clearly disappointed Pastor said. Pastor Naicker added, “The family of Donavan was highly upset as they had to remove the coffin half way while they were lowering it because it did not fit inside the grave. We waited for about 45 minutes for the grave to be properly done so that the coffin could fit properly inside the grave. We are urging the council workers and their supervisors to make sure that the graves are dug up properly. All those attending the funeral were inconvenienced as they had to wait almost an hour because the Council did a shoddy job of digging the grave.”
Mugshien Alli (55), son-in-law of the deceased told the Laudium Sun, “I am married to the daughter of the deceased who was very dear to me. The problem we had at the Laudium Cemetery during the funeral was that the grave was not dug wide enough. The indignity of being forced to take the coffin out of the grave again, while it was half way down, in front of family and friends was unexplainable and unacceptable. The family had to get help from friends who attended the funeral and also from these casual guys who were hanging around at the cemetery. As a family, we are very disappointed with the Council and we feel that there should be some kind of inspection of the grave being prepared for a funeral, by a supervisor. We are just glad that we managed to open up the grave and as a family we laid our father to rest.”
Shafeeqah Moghamed Alli (49), daughter of the deceased told the Laudium Sun, “The problem with the grave of my father was that it was not professionally dug up. I am so very disappointed that the grave was not dug up to normal standards.”
In response, Ward 61 Councillor Naeem Patel said, “If the family wanted a bigger grave they should have applied for it. Graves are dug up according to standard sizes and I am not responsible for cemetery issues.”