Heritage Cases

A2. ACTIVITY MOTIVATION A2.1 SOCIO-VALUES OF THE ACTIVITY Burial is considered by many people of different faiths, and traditional Africans as the final resting place of an individual. Therefore, burial and burial place must be respected and with dignity. The grave yard must be labelled and maintained since the gravesite will be visited from time to time in memory of their loved ones and for ritual purposes. Nationally, there is an increasing demand for cemetery space, while land availability for new cemeteries and / or expansion continues to decrease. This trend is also evident in Bulwer, KZN. For the final disposal of human remains, embalmed interment remains the dominant method for disposal of the dead. However, the most popular alternative to embalmed interment by far remains cremation (Prothero, 2001 cited in Coutts et al. (2011)). In most cases people tend to prefer, due to cultural and spiritual beliefs, embalmed interment, which needs burial space / cemetery. Therefore, this cemetery is a social need for the community of Bulwer A2.2. ECONOMIC-VALUES OF THE ACTIVITY Bulwer being a small town surrounded by a mixture of commercial farms and rural areas has little economic activities. The industrial sections are minimal with tourism, hotel and catering, retail and construction industry being the most pronounced industries in the small town. Construction of the cemetery will create jobs during both construction and operational phase although more jobs will be created during construction A2.3. NEED AND DESIRABILITY OF THE ACTIVITY NDZ has an obligation as the local authority of the Bulwer area to plan and coordinate the provision of a cemetery that would be used by the local community for burial purposes. The current cemetery is full and therefore, the municipality deemed it necessary to construct a new cemetery that will accommodate enough graves and will last for a long period of time. If the development does not take place, many informal graveyards may be established which may be located on farms and in backyards, and others may be located in environmentally sensitive areas such as flood plains and areas with shallow water table. Informal cemetery sites in shallow water tables may cause transmission of hazardous substances through contaminated water from the pathogenic organisms released during corpse decomposition. (Udidi (2007). Establishment of the new cemetery site will reduce this water contamination risk. Also, the cost of travelling to rural areas or to cemeteries far away to bury the loved ones will also be reduced. Further reduction in rural burial in sensitive areas will also be reduced. The overall benefit of the proposed cemetery is to ensure that the local community has burial plots to bury their loved ones in a respectful and dignified manner and to enable the municipality to provide the basic service of provision of a cemetery, which includes grave-digging, landscaping, etc. Skills transfer during construction. (e.g., fencing and brick laying). Business opportunities during construction (e.g., selling of food to construction workers, accommodation rentals, purchasing of local construction material etc.). Increased job opportunities. During and post construction