Living on the dead
๐ง๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ด๐ถ๐ป๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ผ๐ป ๐ญ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฐ๐๐ผ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฐ.
At TB Lujiza Cemetery in East London in the Eastern Cape, Mbewukazi Ntungwa searches for her grandmother's grave. Years of municipal mismanagement have violated the dignity of the dead and their relatives; overgrown vegetation and piles of rubbish make it difficult for families to find the tombstones of their departed loved ones. But even more shocking are the shacks and informal dwellings that have been built inside the cemetery, some of them directly above the remnants of headstones which mark the final resting place of the deceased. People living on the dead... In Buffalo City Municipality, derelict cemeteries are common. A few kilometres away, the lone headstone of political stalwart Alcott Skweyi Gwentshe lies in dense undergrowth, a startling monument to neglect. Carte Blanche investigates.