www.thevillagenews.co.za
24 March 2021
15
Newly upgraded cemetery in Palmiet O
verstrand Executive Mayor, Dudley Coetzee, officially opened the Palmiet Cemetery in the Hangklip-Kleinmond area on Monday, 15 March. The cemetery will accommodate 820 new burial sites which will provide burial capacity for approximately the next eight years, based on the current rate of burials in the Kleinmond area. In keeping with Covid-19 guidelines, the ribbon cutting ceremony was not open to the public. A few special guests, integral to the development of the cemetery, were present to celebrate the special occasion. Ward 10 Councillor, Fanie Krige, delivered a heart-warming welcome and paid tribute to the late Mike Bartman, who played a major role in the realisation of this cemetery. His research led to the reopening of the former graveyard site at Palmiet, which was closed in 1999 after it became impossible to continue with burials due to the high-water table in the area. “I remember many evenings where we met with the Proteadorp community in particular, to consider the different options available to us,” Cllr Krige said. The solution to the problem was to install a sub-soil drainage system with a berm and outlet structures for the subsoil system. Krige expressed the hope that the cemetery will be able to provide a good backdrop for quiet reflection and serve as place of serenity, where one can collect one’s thoughts. In his keynote speech, Overstrand Executive Mayor, Dudley Coetzee, also gave credit to the former Executive Mayor, the late Rudolph Smith, who agreed in 2017 to respond to the public outcry in Kleinmond to seek a local graveyard solution. The Mayor reminded attendees about the
challenges Kleinmond experienced with burial sites since the only cemetery in Main Road reached its full capacity in 2009 and the local communities had to bury loved ones elsewhere in the Overstrand. To resolve capacity challenges that may be experienced by other communities in the municipal area, the Municipality bought land for a regional graveyard at Karwyderskraal in 2013 that can provide for an estimated number of 17 000 burial sites. “But it is so that people want to bury their loved ones closer to home,” the Mayor said. Mayor Coetzee said funding was made available to install the sub-soil drainage system, to the amount of R2 304 937 in the 2018/’19, 2019/’20 and 2020/’21 financial years to complete the project. This includes the impact assessments, consultancy fees and the environmental applications and approvals, as well as fencing. Although the project started in 2018/’19, the physical construction could only commence in November last year, after the completion of an Environmental Impact Assessment (the record of decision was only received in June 2020), and after the winter period. The event concluded when the Mayor, Ward Committee members and municipal officials were taken on an inspection tour of the Palmiet Cemetery and its sub-soil drainage system.
Mayor Dudley Coetzee cut the ribbon at the official opening last week of the Palmiet Cemetery, just outside Kleinmond. From left are Mike Botha (Klein Berlyn), Andrew Martin (Local Football Association), Hilgard Muller (Rooi Els Ratepayers Association), Derek Adonis (Kleinmond Primary School), Grant Cohen (Cllr Ward 9), Municipal Manager Dean O’Neill , Melvin Jooste (Mooiuitsig), Mary Hull (Protea West), Charles Swartz (Integrated Fishing Forum), Mayor Dudley Coetzee, Fanie Krige (Cllr Ward 10), Bangikhaya Mantshinga (Backyard Dweller Association), Director of Community Servcies Roderick Williams, Susan Botha (Kleinmond Police Forum) and Desmond Lakey (Senior Manager: Kleinmond Administration).
