A Kraaifontein woman is furious after she visited her mom’s grave and found it destroyed.
Rhannie Lewis, 34, says she was at the funeral of slain 11-year-old Duran Visagie on Saturday and decided to check her mother’s grave.
But when she got there she found building rubble and two crosses.
“I have no idea who the other cross belongs to,” says Rhannie.
“All that is left is mud and what looks like dry used cement and the flowers are underneath all that rubble.”
Rhannie buried her mom Josephine Pietersen who died of colon cancer on 8 August.
“It hasn’t even been three months since we buried my mom at the Kraaifontein Cemetery and already we have this to deal with.
“My mother’s tomb is not the only one that was destroyed.
“On Tuesday I went to check if they have fixed it and nothing has happened.”
A similar incident happened last month when Eugene Steenberg went to go visit the grave of his daughter who died two years ago.
The dad said he hadn’t been to Simoné McPherson’s grave since the beginning of lockdown in March.
“When we got there we saw marks left by a tractor. The cross that was on the grave was broken,” he said.
The manager at the Kraaifontein Cemetery Musa Rolomana tells the Daily Voice some graves are damaged as gravediggers sukkel to get to plots: “Sometimes people who work have no choice, but to destroy graves with the intention we would go back to fix the tombs.
“The vehicles we use are big and graves may be spoiled in the process, but we always fix them.”
After Rhannie posted on Facebook, Jenica Jantjies Valentyn commented: “My father-in-law was buried Saturday and on Sunday my mother-in-law went to his grave again so his flowers were damaged and there were planks over his grave within 24 hours.”