COMMENT: Let us respect the dead

COVID-19 is still with us and the virus may come back stronger if we throw caution to the wind and start behaving in a post-Covid-19 manner when we are still grappling with the pandemic. That the figures have gone down does not mean that the pandemic has been defeated.

We raise this beause of the complacency that is dangerously creeping into our communities, where masks are becoming optional for many, where those that drink are sharing beverages with reckless abandon while mourners have literally chosen to dice with death.

We believe lockdown regulations were meant to protect the populace and that to a large extent they have served their purpose.

However, while there are restrictions on the number of people that are allowed at cemeteries, it would appear that this is being flouted by many. We believe council should ensure that there is enforcement of regulations, and if need be, call on security services to lend a hand.

Cemeteries could soon turn into super spreader centres as mourners seem to be turning funerals into feasts where people drink, dance and engage in all sorts of merrymaking, if observations by B-Metro this past weekend at Athlone are anything to go by.

Council has expressed concern before over the flouting of rules at cemeteries but we believe the happenings at these sites is akin to opening stadiums since there are so many funerals taking place at the cemeteries and instead of there being 30 mourners, many other mourners accompany the body and then remain by the parking lot, singing, drinking and engaging in generally uncomplimentary behaviour.

It is actually a shock that residents of the Northend section facing the cemetery have not petitioned council over the noise levels, the dust and the fouling of their area by the many mourners.

This past Sunday there was, among other noisy burials, the burial of an alleged malayitsha whose colleagues’ procession brought traffic to a standstill as they spun their vehicles on their way to the cemetery. They were not done yet.

They raised more dust when more than half-a-dozen vehicles started ‘‘spinning’’ at the cemetery parking lot, making a lot of noise and raising so much dust one wondered how residents were coping with such daily abuse.

We do not believe this is a befitting send-off to our loved ones but a warped way of smuggling in merrymaking that has been smothered by lockdown regulations.

Let us respect the dead. People attending different funerals mingled as they waited by the parking lot, with music blaring from some of the vehicles and sweaty figures dancing to the sounds, amid whistling.

This is the state of affairs at cemeteries and surely we cannot continue to have such in this era of Covid-19. Add to that, very few of the mourners bothered to properly wear their masks.

If we do not arrest this recklessness, many of the jovial mourners could find themselves at the sites for final rest soon. It is too ghastly to contemplate considering these people come from all over the city daily and converge on the cemetery. It’s time authorities got tough for the offenders’ sake.

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