RETURN TO REMEMBER

This month, we bring you vital updates from KwaZulu-Natal’s cemetery landscape, alongside a heartfelt reminder of the role we all play in preserving memory and dignity.

“WE OWE IT TO OUR LOVED ONES”

Cemeteries in KZN face growing challenges. Here’s how we can honor memories together.

In the heart of KwaZulu-Natal, where ancestors whisper through the winds and tombstones stand as silent storytellers, we find ourselves at a crossroads.

Recent news has revealed troubling shifts in our sacred spaces:

Graveyards turned into homes:

In Durban’s Seaview Cemetery and Pietermaritzburg’s Azalea Cemetery, over 400 people have erected informal dwellings directly on top of graves due to vandalism and housing shortages. This heartbreaking development

underscores the urgent need to protect sacred spaces and honor those who came before us.

To protect KwaZulu-Natal’s cemeteries from encroachment,

neglect, and loss of dignity, both the community and local

authorities must act with urgency and unity. Here’s a breakdown of meaningful actions each can take:

• Secure Fencing and Lighting: Install proper fencing, gates, and so lar lighting to deter unauthorized access and improve safety.

• Maintenance: Maintain the grounds, cut the grass, HAVE PRIDE!

• Dedicated Cemetery Officers: Appoint security officials and foot patrols to oversee cemetery management, maintenance, and community engagement.

• Clear Zoning Laws: Enforce strict zoning regulations that prevent residential encroachment on burial grounds.

• Public Awareness Campaigns: Collaborate with cultural leaders and media to promote the importance of cemetery preservation.

• Digitize Grave Records: Create accessible online databases to help families locate and care for graves, reducing abandonment.

The municipality has been paid for every burial and every tombstone erection, its their duty to supply clean and safe cemeteries!

Mzunduzi Municipality Actions: Policy, Protection, and Preservation

Community Actions: Restoring Respect from the Ground Up

• Regular Grave Visits: Families should visit graves consistently to show presence, deter vandalism, and maintain emotional connection. “Ukuvakashela amathuna akuyona nje imisebenzi — kuyindlela yokugcina umlando uphila.” (Visiting graves is not just a duty — it’s how memories stay alive.)

• Grave Maintenance Drives: Organize monthly clean-up days where community members care for neglected graves and cemetery grounds.

• Cultural Education: Host workshops or school visits to teach youth about the spiritual and cultural importance of cemeteries.

• Report Encroachment Early: Encourage residents to report informal dwellings or suspicious activity near cemeteries to local authorities before it escalates further. Bring back law, order and respect.

• Community Watch Groups: Form cemetery watch committees to monitor and protect sacred spaces,

  especially in vulnerable areas.

Why Regular Grave Visits Matter

In times of rapid change, visiting a loved one’s grave is an act of remembrance, healing, and cultural continuity. It’s a moment to reconnect, reflect, and reaffirm the bonds that transcend time.

• Emotional connection: Regular visits offer comfort and a sense of closeness to those we’ve lost.

• Cultural respect: In many traditions, tending to graves is a sacred duty — a way to honor ancestors and uphold heritage.

• Community care: Improved implementation of security to encourage active visitation to help deter vandalism, encroachment, and neglect in cemeteries.

Tombstones are more than markers. They are storytellers.

But even storytellers need care.

When issues are spotted early — a hairline crack, a fading name, a loose base — they can be repaired before deeper damage sets in.

This protects not just the stone, but the story it holds.

“Because memory deserves more than silence. It deserves presence. It deserves stone that speaks.”

TEGG’S GRANITE

KEEPING MEMORIES ALIVE SINCE

1987

Whether you’re planning a new tombstone, restoring an old one, or simply seeking guidance, we’re here — with compassion, craftsmanship, and cultural care.

Because memory deserves more than silence. It deserves presence. It deserves stone that speaks.

“Lapho izinyembezi ziwela khona, umlando uyakhula.”

Where tears fall, memory grows.

Honouring legacy. Preserving dignity.