No immediate plan to convert Narraville dunes into cemetery

THE Walvis Bay municipality has not immediate plans to open up the dunes at Narraville for more burials.

The only person buried there is Elias Uutoni, Namibia’s first Covid-19 casualty, who’s gravesite remains isolated.

Uutoni (45) died on 8 July 2020 and was buried among the dunes on 16 July 2020, near the houses of Extension 7 in the suburb, and his grave remains the only one at the site.

Asked why it is taking so long to fence off the cemetery and conduct other burials there, Walvis Bay municipality spokesperson Caty Sheya said: “The existing Narraville Cemetery is nearly full and there is a need for a new cemetery.

“The site is an approved location, and an environmental clearance certificate was obtained as required by law. There is technical work, such as earthworks and servicing that needs to be done first before we start to develop the site.”

Regarding the time frame for these activities, Sheya said: “We have estimations but with Covid and the usual delays, it’s hard to say. Hopefully, by late 2022 or early 2023.” Sheya said the new site is approximately three hectares, and is expected to cater to the community for the next 30 years. She said N$2 million has been set aside for the first phase, which excludes earthworks and servicing costs.

The municipality spokesperson said the Municipality of Walvis Bay’s town planning division approved the new Narraville Cemetery in 2016, adding that public consultations were done in May and June 2019, and there were no objections received from Walvis Bay residents.

The area was found suitable for Covid-19 burials when Walvis Bay became the Covid-19 epicentre in Namibia in 2020. When the second person was to be buried at the site, disgruntled Narraville residents flocked to block the entrance to the site on 17 July 2020, as they were not happy that the area had been earmarked for Covid-19 burials.

A Narraville resident, Anthea van Wyk, started a petition at that time, which was signed by Walvis Bay residents who did not want the site to be a Covid cemetery. The Namibian reported recently that Uutoni’s family is still battling to come to terms with his death and burial at the site.

“The municipality has put up a fence around it to protect it. We are hoping for a monument or tombstone to be put up.

“It will somehow give us closure. It will give him integrity. The wife and children have not visited the grave yet.

“We would like them to visit a decent-looking grave,” Uutoni’s sister Suama Kashava said.