Religious institutions in Bulawayo can reserve burial space at city cemeteries, provided they pay the required fees and meet council conditions, the local authority has said.
The clarification followed a request by the Anglican Church to reserve 200 graves at Umvutcha Cemetery for the burial of its congregants.
According to the latest council minutes, the church had previously been allocated burial space at West Park Cemetery, but that allocation has been fully used.
Council approved the new request subject to a reservation fee of US$43 per grave, bringing the total cost for the 200 graves to US$8,600.
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The reservation will be valid for five years and can be renewed at the prevailing fee.
The church must renew the reservation for any unused graves at least three months before the five-year period expires. If it fails to do so, the unused graves will revert to council and may be allocated to others without compensation.
The reservation fee is non-refundable and does not cover the standard burial or interment fees, which will be charged when a grave is used.
The reserved graves cannot be transferred or resold to people outside the Anglican Church.
Council said Umvutcha Cemetery currently has about 6,500 available graves, while the city uses an average of 105 graves each month.
At the current rate, the cemetery’s available burial space is expected to last until about 2030.
The 200 graves requested by the Anglican Church represent about 3% of the cemetery’s current available capacity, equivalent to about two months of the city’s average grave consumption.
During deliberations, Councillor Khalazani Ndlovu asked whether the city had sufficient burial space to accommodate the request.
Councillor Sikhululekile Moyo said religious institutions had a right to access land for burial purposes in line with their religious values.
“According to the Zimbabwean Law it was their right to be given land so as to uphold the values of their religion,” Moyo said, according to the minutes.
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