Kadoma Coumcil giving bereaved families half-baked services

By Lloyd Mwale.

Residents of City of Kadoma who lay to rest their dearly departed relatives at the two of City of Kadoma’s cemeteries are getting half-baked service delivery from the council as they have to fork out funds to pay grave diggers, hire picks and shovels after paying for the services at the council’s Rates hall, it can be revealed.

The half-baked services came to light last week when the late Ishamael Murefu was about to be laid to rest at Rimuka Cemetery. The relatives were forced to hire a Front end/JCB loader to dig the grave after diggers had encountered boulders at the grave they had been allocated to bury Murefu,who had died on South Africa.

The late Murefu was supposed to be laid to rest at 2pm but diggers had to wait for the machine up until 4pm after battling to haul out rocks using dangerous methods usually associated with artisinal mining.

The late Murefu-s relatives were forced to hire some private diggers for US$50 before they hired the Frontend/JCB for another US$70 for 30 minutes, even though they had paid for the grave at the council offices.

The media crew witnessed the hired grave diggers battling, hauling rock boulders using ropes but lost hope when they encountered bigger rocks, until Murefu’s relatives hired the machinery to continue digging the grave.

A close relative to the late Murefu said that the service being offered by the City of Kadoma in burying his relative was more of robbery and some people were benefiting along the way.

“The services offered by the Kadoma City Council is more of a robbery and arm-twisting act. We paid for the grave at their offices and on coming here at the cemetery, we found the grave only dug for less than 30cm. We were forced again to hire some private diggers, and when we encountered these rock boulders, we were then forced again to hire machinery to lift these rocks.

“So the cost of laying someone to rest in Kadoma is too expensive as compared to other local authorities. I suppose this cemetery is for those who are poor but residents are being fleeced here at thcemetery and someone is benefiting from this along the way,” said one Murefu relative.

Contacted for a comment City of Kadoma Public Relations Nyasha Ndamba said the council has a policy of digging a grave to a depth of 1.2 metres and later continue to dig after the relatives had done their rituals.

“Graves with rocks have not been used and they’re skipped, and the bereaved family is given the next grave. Council grave diggers are expected to dig to a depth of 1.2 metres leave for the family to do their rituals, first (grave marking) and proceed to dig and design as per their culture. If a 30cm dug grave was used, the council would take correct action. Kindly share details of the burial if it’s OK with you,the reason for not getting to the full depth is purely cultural and the 30cm needs action,” said City of Kadoma Public Relations Officer.

The situation at Kadoma Town Cemetery is almost the similar to the one at Rimuka Cemetery as relatives are forced to pay dearly for the grave to the private diggers and to hire picks and shovels, alegedlly facilitated by the City’s Cemetery Attendant.

Last year, at Kadoma Town Cemetery, during the burial of Thomas Hofisi who lived along Mbuya Nehanda St, relatives were forced to buy three shovels for use during the burial after the City’s Town Cemetery attendant had failed to provide shovels after the casket had been lowerer in the grave.

At the two Kadoma cemeteries families have been forced to bring or hire picks and shovels since the turn of the millennium with the council choosing to fold their hands and close their eyes to the one of the deserving service delivery.