The community of Waterval is currently experiencing the problem of not having a graveyard where they can lay their kindred to rest, as the old cemetery is full.

According to the secretary of the Waterval Sanco, Mr Andy Munyai, the community has engaged the municipality on many occasions from the time of the former mayor, Mavhungu Luruli. Empty promises have been piling upon unfulfilled promises, he said. “Our community was established in around 1986, and 27 years later we are still without a cemetery of our own,” said Munyai.

“The community bury their loved ones in the nearby Elim cemetery, which is full to the brim. We have raised this issue before and former mayor Mavhungu Luruli even went on air, saying that the graveyard had been secured and that an environmental compact assessment had been conducted successfully. But nothing was done!”

However, Munyai says, the community representative committee on which he sat has also engaged the present mayor, Cllr David Mutavhatsindi, the Speaker, municipal manager and some municipal councillors on the issue and it was eventually agreed that the municipality would address the “Waterval disgrace” as a matter of urgency.

“We now say enough is enough,” says Munyai. “If the municipality doesn't want to help us, they must tell us outright and stop beating around the bush. We are even considering writing to the national office of the ANC that the municipality is betraying us.”

Now residents have accidentally damaged the main water pipe which runs through the graveyard while attempting to dig a grave. “This graveyard is full and there are water pipes running through remaining spaces,” Munyai complained.

Makhado Municipality's Mr Louis Bobodi said that the municipality was aware of the problem raised by the Waterval community. “We are in talks with the local traditional council to give us a piece of land,” Bobodi said. “We can assure the community that they will get a graveyard of their own, since it is also covered in the 2013/14 financial year's budget.”