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Even at the funeral of a convicted murderer or child rapist, relatives and friends talk of how good he/she was.
The Shona say, “Wafawanaka”.
However, Harare City Council seems not to accord the same respect to “our dearly departed” as evidenced by the utter neglect of cemeteries.

Warren Hills in Warren Park is begging for a facelift while Granville Cemetery (KuMbudzi) and Tafara are in the same sorry state.
The perimeter concrete walls at Warren Hills and Tafara are a motley pile of bricks while Granville Ceme-tery is not fenced.
The premises are now used for all manner of illegal dealings in flagrant disrespect of the dead.

Pioneer Cemetery in Mbare is now being used as a toilet by vendors at Mupedzanhamo.
City officials admit that cemeteries are in terrible condition and have blamed this on lack of finances, equipment and manpower.
“We are not doing well. There is no water at some cemeteries. The maintenance is poor,” said a gravedigger at Tafara cemetery in eastern Harare.

City spokesman Mr Leslie Gwindi said the Department of Housing and Community Services was responsible for the cemeteries but faced the same resource-related problems as the rest of the municipality.
“There has always been a challenge of maintenance and insufficient manpower,” he said.
Mr Gwindi said casual labourers would be recruited to spruce up the cemeteries ahead of the looming rainy season.

The city employs an assistant director responsible for cemeteries and parks but according to sources that office is ill-equipped to do the job as it does not have tractors, shovels or picks.
“At the moment only four tractors are working in the whole city. We are a little hard up,” an official said.
The city’s cemeteries are prone to vandalism and theft of tombstones.

Nyaradzo Funeral Services has off late tried to spruce up cemeteries across Zimbabwe.
For every burial they assist with, a tree is planted in the cemetery.
Nyaradzo chief executive officer Mr Philip Mataranyika said the tree planting project began on July 1 this year and the target is to plant 500 million trees in 15 years.

Some of the trees will be planted on roads leading to the graveyards.
“Nyaradzo realises the various roles that trees play in the environmental balance.

“Trees purify the air, releasing oxygen for us to breathe. They are beautiful to look at and help stop soil erosion.
“Planting trees will stop the desertification of our country and help mitigate the effects of global warming.
“All burials done with a tree planted would be called green burial,” he said.

The funeral home has now started a model cemetery in Chishawasha where it showcases its green burials project.
“Many of us may live through life without anything significant that carry our name, a street or a building but all of us can plant a tree and name it after ourselves,” he said.
Mr Mataranyika said families could plant trees in memory of their dearly departed.

“Instead of mourning, plant a tree to remember loved ones. The tree will symbolise the life of the departed.”
He said should local authorities buy into their project, woodlots will be established at each cemetery and with them will come maintenance teams.
“Once this concept catches on, it is our strong belief that Zimbabwe will turn green again and future generations will appreciate the value of trees,” he said.