Bulawayo’s Town Clerk Christopher Dube has warned that residents who erect tombstones at new cemeteries, where only headstones are permitted, will be issued with demolition orders.
Dube said the directive enforces a council resolution dating back to 2018, which banned tombstones at Athlone West and other new cemeteries under the Cemeteries Act, Bulawayo Regulations 1967.
“The policy is clear, only headstones are permitted. Residents who have put up tombstones in violation of this directive will be issued with demolition orders,” Dube said in the latest Health, Housing and Education Committee report.
The local authority argued that headstones made it easier to cut grass and maintain cemeteries that were increasingly overgrown and difficult to manage.
According to the report, councillors also noted that most graves were abandoned after burial, leaving the city to shoulder maintenance costs.
Deputy committee chairperson, Councillor Siboniso Moyo, said adherence to the policy would allow machinery to manoeuvre during grass cutting, reducing reliance on manual labour. She called for greater awareness campaigns through funeral bookings, radio broadcasts and community meetings.
The committee report showed at least six cases of non-compliance, with tombstones erected despite the ban. Councillors also raised concerns over poor cemetery maintenance, particularly at Athlone Old section, where overgrown grass has made it difficult for families to access their relatives’ graves.
Bulawayo, which is running out of burial space, has previously urged residents to consider cremation.
Families wishing to erect headstones are required to follow laid-down procedures, including verification by cemetery supervisors and compliance with prescribed dimensions.
According to the council, the deceased’s family or relatives approach the cemetery where the deceased is buried with details about the deceased person. The cemetery supervisor checks the record to confirm the information. The supervisor may visit the graveyard to check physically after confirming or checking the cemetery records.
On the day of putting up the grave monument, the family or the grave monumentalists presents the Tombstone Application Permit with the attached receipt to the Cemetery supervisor to verify payment and enter into the tombstone monumentalist Register.
The cemetery supervisor will lead the family or the tombstone monumentalists to the graveyard to erect the monument and such work must be carried out to the satisfaction of the cemetery supervisor.”
The dimensions of the monument are 1.2 meters by 2.2 meters.
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