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- The City of Cape Town has opened 600 new burial spaces for Muslims.
- The Muslim community has been lobbying for more burial spaces since 2006.
- However, the new spaces are only temporary relief as the Covid-19 fourth wave approaches.
The City of Cape Town has expanded the Muslim burial section at the Maitland Cemetery, but undertakers say the additional space is only a short term solution.
The new section, which opened on Wednesday, can accommodate 600 burials.
This was in addition to the 800 plots made available earlier this year, said mayoral committee member for community services and health, Zahid Badroodien.
Western Cape Muslim Undertakers Forum chairperson Ebrahim Solomons previously told News24 that Muslim undertakers had struggled to find space at cemeteries due to a lack of available plots and increased Covid-19 related deaths.
He said the demand for burial space had existed for some time, but had been exacerbated through higher deaths rates than before the pandemic.
Badroodien said the City had seen a "massive increase in demand for burials in the last year and a half, due to the Covid-19 pandemic".
READ | Covid-19: Cape Town crematoriums, burial grounds under strain
With many Muslim burial sites close to the central city at capacity, families were often forced to bury their loved ones further than they would have preferred or have had to pay for pricey plots at private cemeteries.
Solomons said while the additional burial space would help with the current demand, it was only temporary relief.
"We know the fourth wave is coming later this year. We're always prepared, ever since the first wave. But we don't know what to expect, especially with changing variants," he said.
According to Badroodien, the City was working to identify suitable land for new cemeteries and additional space in existing cemeteries.
He said:
Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) second deputy president Shaykh Riad Fataar said the community had requested additional burial spaces since 2006.
Around 3 500 burial plots had been opened at Klip Road Cemetery in Grassy Park in response to this request.
These had since been filled, with new spaces being opened up at Klip Road, while cemeteries in Khayelitsha and Delft were at capacity, said Fataar.
"The additional burial capacity made available at Maitland Cemetery will go a long way, but we want to remind the community to also make use of burial space available at other City cemeteries, notably Welmoed, Klip and Atlantis, where possible," Fataar added.
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