The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) is proposing to ban burials of children between the ages of zero to twelve years and make cremation mandatory in order to save burial space an proposes to implement this in February.
Councillors have been pushing locals to consider cremating their deceased relatives since Bulawayo, the country’s second largest city, is rapidly running out of burial space, but such requests have been rejected.
Council minutes say seven cremations were performed in December, consisting of four males and three females.
During a council meeting, Director of Health Services Department, Dr Edwin Sibanda, said that the BCC had leased a plot of land at Luveve Cemetery to a private contractor who had built a crematorium.
This contractor was willing to work with BCC to provide cremation services, and plans were being made to cut cremation fees for children aged zero to twelve years to $30.
Councillor Felix Mhaka praised the Health Services Department for such a partnership, stating that residents needed this service, particularly for stillborn new borns.
Although cremation was not totally accepted in African culture, engaging residents them would help to change the thinking, he said.
Cllr Mhaka stated that a timeline for the prohibition of funerals between the ages of zero and 12 years was needed and proposed February 1, 2023.
Cllr Skhululekile Moyo also supported the cremation of the zero to 12 year old children.
She said in her Ward 17, “there were seven still born babies that had not been buried due to financial challenges.”
Such a service, Cllr Moyo said would come in as a big relief as “residents should embrace cremation to save burial space.”
Cllr Concilia Mlalazi added that the cremation of the zero to 12 year children was not a new practise, as “it was there in the past.”
Cllr Febbie Msipha, on the other hand, urged that wide consultations be done before implementing the prohibition on child funerals in favour of cremation.
She recommended to have many burials in a single grave.
“This multi burial on one grave or double interment should be extended not only to couples
but to other members of the family as well,” read the council minutes.
In response, the Director of Health Services explained that there were a lot of challenges
surrounding burials of still born babies.
He said there were “con people at the City’s hospitals who collected money from still born baby parents claiming to assist them with burial arrangements. Still born babies were collected from various hospitals after payment and then dumped at Mpilo Hospital Mortuary.”
Having this cremation facility would assist ‘a lot,’ said the health director.
The councillors concurred residents should be encouraged to embrace cremation to save burial space and noted that most deaths occurred between zero to three and there were very low numbers of death for 12 year olds.
The council also noted that graves of zero to 12 years were the most neglected in most Council cemeteries.
It was resolved that a notice would be issued in the press to residents as well as on radio since there was a slight acceptance of cremation among the adult population while some of them did not support double interment.
Bulawayo Town Clerk, Christopher Dube, advised councillors to engage residents on this matter and supported having a public announcement put out.
In November 2019, BCC also proposed mandatory cremation for people aged 25 and below as it grappled with shortage of burial space in Bulawayo.
