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Carte Blanche

Living on the dead

Video
17 October
๐—ง๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น๐˜† ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฏ ๐—ข๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฐ. 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.