Lost soul

This woman is at her wits’ end after a private cemetery lost her husband’s grave.

But instead of assisting her, the manager of Gloria Memorial Private Cemetery in Ottery on Wednesday told Brenda Reynolds to dig up her dead husband and gooi.

Brenda, 57, from Beacon Valley in Mitchells Plain, says she buried her husband, Alfred, last year January but when she wanted to place flowers on the graf a few weeks later, she couldn’t find it.

“We bought a family plot at the cemetery just after my father passed, about 20 years ago, and it looked beautiful,” she explains.

“Problems started just before my husband’s death when we couldn’t find my mother’s grave.

“We eventually found it, covered in rubble and halfway covered by other tombstones.

“My mother’s grave was just a small block.

“In recent months we could not locate my husband’s grave either as the headstone [which identifies the plot number] and his cross were gone.

“I got annoyed by this. One does not want to see that; it’s like throwing dirt on our loved one’s grave.”

Brenda says “numerous calls, text messages and even visits to the cemetery office” have gone unanswered.

“I’ve spoken to the supervisor, Eleanor, many times and a few other names, but nothing happens.

“They are quick to call asking if we want tombstones placed on the graves, but how can we do that if we cannot even find the graves?” she asks.

Yesterday, the Daily Voice accompanied Brenda to the Cemetery, where Eleanor at first pretended she didn’t know Brenda, but later contradicted herself by calling Brenda by her name.

The manager at the cemetery, Beverley Naidoo, said it's not their fault if the family forgot the location of graves.

“We are not liable for everyone’s graves. We cannot be held accountable for your memorial work, but what we can do is put another plot number there,” she said.

She blamed the rubble on Brenda’s mother’s grave on other families burying loved ones.

“It is not our fault that rubble just get thrown on graves,” she said.

When Brenda insisted on knowing why her previous calls were ignored, Naidoo became rude, and said: “If you have problems with things here, then exhume the bodies and take it.

“This is private property and I’m telling you to leave because I will call our security or police.”