Graveyard maintenance burden grows for local authorities

Local authorities say maintaining graveyards remains a challenge due to limited funding, forcing many councils to rely on public-private partnerships to keep burial sites clean and accessible.

Gibeon Village Council chairperson Ellerine Isaacks says the responsibility to keep graveyards well-maintained rests with the local authority but there is no dedicated funding for the task.

“We mostly have to look into the capital or development budget to see whether there is any funding left in the various vaults which we can allocate to the maintenance of graveyards,” Isaacks says.