A Bloekombos woman says she’s having nightmares after her husband’s coffin was dug up.
Barenita Dirkse, 55, says they buried her common-law husband Moses Arendse, 58, on 4 September at the Wallacedene cemetery in Kraaifontein.
But on Friday, her children ran home, screaming that they could see the coffin.
“I stay near the graveyard. On Friday, one of the kids went to check if the flowers were still on the grave. They came shouting to me, ‘mammie, die graf is oop en ons sien daddy se kis’.
“I ran to the graveyard and found the coffin visible with a little sand on.
“I asked the caretaker and he said it’s the kids who play there. But you can see someone dug a hole, because the cross was also not standing where we planted it.
“Within an hour, the graveyard tractor was there and repaired the grave but the coffin was broken.
“And I want to see if my hubby is still inside the coffin, I’m getting nightmares. I dream that there is nobody in the coffin.”
The City’s Zahid Badroodien said the digging of new graves next to existing ones is not new.
But coffins being exposed, such as on Friday, was “a rare occurrence”.
“A sand wall separating the grave collapsed, exposing part of the coffin of the neighbouring grave site,” he said.
“The family of the affected grave were on site when the incident occurred and were consulted by the cemetery superintendent regarding the incident. The team rectified the affected site by clearing the sand and rebuilding a stabilised wall.”
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