Cemeteries: New Policy and By-law

Council approved a new Policy and By-law for Overstrand Municipality. Public participation on the aforementioned documentation were concluded during 2021. The by-law must still be promulgated. The purpose of the Policy is to ensure uniformity regarding the management of cemeteries in the Overstrand Municipal area.

The Policy objectives are as follows:

• to provide for the establishment and closing of cemeteries;

• to provide for the administration of Municipal cemeteries;

• to regulate the burial of bodies;

• to prohibit the desecration, destruction and damaging of graves in cemeteries and receptacles containing bodies;

• to regulate the exhumation, disturbance, removal, and reinternment of bodies, and to provide for matters incidental thereto.

Overstrand currently has eleven (11) active cemeteries, including the Overstrand Regional Cemetery, located at Karwyderskraal. Last-mentioned cemetery provides for approximately 17,000 burial sites and a site for the establishment of a crematorium.