BY OBERT SIAMILANDU A CONTRACTOR hired by Kwekwe City Council to upgrade a sewer trunk line to the Amaveni Sewer Pump Station has angered residents after damaging graves at Amaveni Old Cemetery.
The pipeline, which runs through the cemetery, connects from Kushinga Primary School in the W Section.
Some residents with relatives buried at the W Section of the cemetery told Southern Eye that the contractor showed no respect for the dead by digging across the graveyard and damaging tombstones.
“We are not happy. What the contractor has done is to disrespect the dead and their relatives. This will not be tolerated,” one resident, whose sister was buried at the cemetery said.
A woman identified as Gogo Baker had no kind words for the Kwekwe City Council and the contractor.
“Whatever they are doing should be stopped. This should not be done without consulting residents. Even if they did consult, this must not be done,” she fumed.
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Southern Eye visited the cemetery and found that three tombstones had been destroyed by a JCB digger, while some graves were covered by soil removed from a trench.
Meanwhile, the contractor has been temporarily forced to stop work.
Kwekwe’s director of works John Mhike, who visited the site after receiving complaints from residents, could not shed light on the development.
Town clerk Lucia Mkandla said the destruction of graves was accidental.
“I am yet to receive a report, but the destruction was not intentional, but an accident by the contractor,” Mkandla said.
- Follow Obert onTwitter @osiamilandu