In March 2023, a wave of vandalism and destruction to the ash walls in Braamfontein cemetery began. The perpetrators pulled or smashed granite and marble plaques off the walls, spilling caskets and ashes on the ground. In many cases, the plaques were so badly damaged that we were unable to repair them properly.
Vandalism in 2023 (Sarah Welham)
The Friends of Johannesburg Cemeteries, a group of concerned volunteers was started in 2018 with the permission of City Parks and Zoo, to take care of the headstones and plaques in the heritage cemeteries of Johannesburg i.e. Braamfontein and Brixton. When this destruction had worked its way through all the ash wall sites, the Friends moved in to document the details on each plaque and do what they could to work out which ash walls they belonged on. This involved many hours of recording, looking up the cremation registers and entering all the details on an Excel spreadsheet so we could return the plaques to their rightful places.
The walls themselves were, in some cases, damaged by the roots of trees that had sprouted in the wells of the walls, and had to be rebuilt. It was at that point that we hired three builders to start the work of repairing the walls. This happened in June 2023, 3 months after the vandalism began. With the exception of one month earlier this year when we ran out of funds to pay them, this team has worked five days a week restoring the area to one of dignity and respect. As of today, they have just a few walls left to repair. All this work has been made possible by donations from the Friends funds, from families affected by the vandalism and from concerned and caring citizens and groups from around the world who gave generously to our cause.
Before the most recent round of vandalism (Sarah Welham)
Today we were told that on Saturday (July 27), vandals had started breaking down walls again. At least twelve plaques have been removed from four walls. City Parks has been informed and their security department visited the scene of the crime this morning to gather facts. We await a statement from them. This looks like a case of negligence on the part of the security guards.
Sarah Welham | Convenor – Friends of Johannesburg Cemeteries | July 29, 2024
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