Residents of Makonde Tshithuthuni village fear that their graveyard may have become the target of heartless thieves who seem to be waiting in the shadows for an opportunity to steal people's building materials that are left there.
Mr Mashudu Seven Sigudu became the latest victim when a whole stack of bricks got stolen. He wanted to use the bricks to upgrade his cousin's grave.
"My cousin, Radzilani Joseph Nemukula, was buried in 1995. There had been shrubs and weeds growing around his grave, so I decided fix it up a little. I bought 120 blocks of bricks and offloaded them right next to the grave a few days ago. When I arrived, there were only seven bricks left. This is a great setback for me as I had already arranged with the people who were going to help me to upgrade the grave that we would start the work on Monday (28 November)."
Sigudu said that he could not understand how people could steal in a sacred place such as a graveyard. "This is totally inhuman and unacceptable. I left the bricks there, believing that no normal human being would steal in the graveyard." Despite this, he is determined to finish upgrading his cousin's grave. "I have already decided to do it this festive season and nothing is going to stop me from doing that."
The deputy chairperson of the Makonde SANCO, Mr Kenneth Munyai, said they had received reports of people whose building materials got stolen at the graveyard, including bags of cement, water storage drums, bricks and corrugated iron sheets. "We condemn this barbaric behaviour, and we will work with the headman and community structures to make sure the thieves are exposed and handed over to the law enforcement agencies. We advise people to not leave anything that would attract the attention of thieves at the graveyard," he said.