Cemeteries

On 13 August 2018, Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources revisited the Winkelhaak Cemetery at Evander Gold Mine, Mpumalanga. The Committee noted progress in improving the infrastructure at the grave site by the Winkelhaak Cemetery Project. Since their last visit in 2015, a wall has been built around the whole site and a granite monument has been erected. 

Memorial stone at the gate to the cemetery (Martin Nicol)

The Committee asked if it is possible to determine which mining company was responsible for these burials and who were the directors who ran a company with this policy? Swift research concludes that Winkelhaak Mines Limited was responsible for the burials. This was a company under the mining house Union Corporation Limited which merged into Gencor in 1980. None of the companies exist under these names any longer. Archival research would be needed to determine the identity of all the company directors responsible. Because of the passage of time, it is likely that most directors will be dead.

Union Corporation Head Office Building (The Heritage Portal)

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Below are notes prepared by the heritage team from the City of Johannesburg for a speech delivered at the unveiling ceremony of a blue plaque for Juliwe Cemetery during Heritage Month 2017. The speech was read out by Mr Kepi Madumo, Executive Director for Community Development, on behalf of the MMC. The notes tell the story of the forced removals of the African community from Roodepoort West to Dobsonville and the fight to save the cemetery from destruction. Click here to download a detailed history of the Roodepoort-Maraisburg Location, compiled by a team from the Wits History Workshop led by the late Prof Phil Bonner.

MMC: Community Development, Clr. Nonhlanhla Sifumba, officiating at the plaque unveiling ceremony (City of Johannesburg)

Today as we mark heritage month, we take the opportunity to recognize a community who were not only evicted from their homes in Roodepoort West, but also forced to leave behind the graves of their loved ones.  

The destruction of such communities as Sophiatown and District Six have become well-known, and these names have become by-words for mass eviction.  And we are honoured today to have members of the legendary Sophiatown community joining us in solidarity today. 

Yet around the country, many other victims of forced removal have been largely...

Below is the first article in a series on the Brixton Cemetery by Kathy Munro. The piece begins by giving the reader a general understanding of the purpose, origin and meaning of cemeteries before delving into the history and significance of Brixton Cemetery. It finishes by highlighting the shocking current state of the cemetery and attempts by local groups to take action. Future articles will look at the epitaphs and symbolism of the Brixton Cemetery as well as stories behind the graves and family memorials.

Walker grave-site Brixton Cemetery (Kathy Munro)

Why the fascination of a cemetery? Cemeteries have always fascinated me. I love their tranquillity, remoteness and solitude. Stepping within the gates of a cemetery takes one into another world; it is the world of the dead but belongs to the living. Cemeteries are strange places as they are resting places for the dead, a means of disposing of a deceased body, but they are also places for the living to return to, to mourn, grieve and remember a loved one. I may not know any of the people buried there but immediately I become a vicarious mourner if only for an hour or two. Cemeteries are places to reflect on mortality, life, death, longevity and the possibility of an afterlife. 

Cemetery definition. By definition a ”cemetery” is a place or ground set...