Old Location Cemetery to be closed

CITY OF WINDHOEK has approved the closure of the Old Location Cemetery in Pionierspark because it has reached its capacity and there is no more space for burials.

The decision was made during the second ordinary council meeting last Thursday.

Council also approved that burials will only be second burials on 500 used graves that were dug eight feet or 2,4 metres deep and on reserved graves.

The rule for the Old Location Cemetery is that one should have been born in or before 1959, although this rule will not apply for second burials.

The second burials will also only be for family members.

The Old Location Cemetery was established in 1928 to cater for the community of the Old Location until they were forcefully relocated to Katutura.

In January 1995 the City of Windhoek applied to the then minister of regional and local government, housing and rural development, to reopen the cemetery because of the high demand for burials by the community who resided in the area, whose relatives were buried there.

Based on this demand, and the status of the cemetery as a historic site, the ministry approved the application, which led to the expansion of the graveyard, to accommodate more graves and to extend the lifespan of the cemetery.

Since the extension of the boundary in 1995, 725 burials took place while more than 40 community members reserved graves next to those of their loved ones and are paying reservation fees for those graves.