DEBACLE IN CEMETERY: A stranger in Booysen’s grave
The metro it seems has ''robbed'' a family from Beyers Park twice, when it comes to them being buried in a preferred plot in the Boksburg Cemetery, one day.
In the first incident, the family was shocked when they were visiting their son’s grave, to find someone buried in a grave on the plot that they had already purchased.
The Booysen family had brought adjoining graves A8C and A9C in the Boksburg Cemetery in 1995, so that the family could eventually be laid to rest together.
“The space we brought is right across from our late son’s grave and one day, when we visited his grave, we discovered that a stranger was buried in A8C,” said Magriet Booysen.
The family said they spoke to the office personnel at the cemetery, but they did not want to tell them who allocated their space to someone else.
“They also wrote that family’s names over ours in the record-book at the graveyard office,” said Booysen.
The Booysens said their name was written in pencil in 1995, and they still have a receipt as proof.
After many discussions, the municipality asked the family to accept plots A9C and A16. They settled on the offer, even though they remain upset at the debacle.
But that was not the end of the story. The second plot they settled on has now been allocated to someone else, again.
“This is ridiculous, since we have been robbed twice!
“On December 30, last year, we went to my son’s grave because it would have been his birthday, and again discovered that another family has erected a double stone on both A8C and A9C,” Booysen said.
The family is demanding answers.
Themba Gadebe, the metro spokesperson, told the Advertiser that, by February 11, they were engaged with the concerned family regarding this issue and that the matter was being handled and should be resolved soon.
However, Booysen told the Advertiser that, as of March 1, she has never been contacted by the metro.
