Diepsloot 3rd Crusade

Diepsloot is a township on the outskirts of Johannesburg with high unemployment and an extremely high HIV infection rate. There are between 16 – 40 burials per undertaker per week. Out of the pregnant women tested, about seven out of 10 are HIV positive. From the general side because we used to get them, out of 30 people a week, 25 are HIV positive."

That would mean that out of an estimated population of 135 000, as many as 80%, or more than 100 000 people, are potentially HIV positive.
It is also known as one of the most dangerous places in Johannesburg…

The perfect place to see God’s love touch and heal His prized possession…people

We give God all the glory for a tremendous harvest in Diepsloot; God’s love truly is amazing! During the Diepsloot crusade we had over one thousand recorded first time decisions of people receiving Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour. The pastor we worked with for this crusade put up a tent straight after the crusade and had over 700 people in his first service. We have wonderful testimonies of God’s healing power, back pains, headaches, sore legs, TB and even a man who had a stroke were all healed by His mercy.

Thank you so much for partnering with us in reaching people with the love of God. Every person saved, healed and touched by His love is because of you, without your generosity none of this would be possible. Thank you for touching a community!

The following article was taken from a television documentary in South Africa.

Death in Diepsloot

Date : 06 August 2000 | Genre : Social and Community

For large numbers of South Africans living in squatter settlements, life is one tough battle to survive. With high unemployment, many people don’t even know where their next meal is coming from. The mounting costs of funerals have pushed a decent burial beyond the pockets of these people and there’s no end in sight to the crisis.

Carlos Baguiera is an undertaker in Pretoria West. He has been keeping this corpse in his mortuary for almost a year. The young man apparently died of an AIDS-related illness. He was brought from the informal settlement of Diepsloot, just north of Johannesburg, and is being kept in cold storage until friends and family have raised enough funds for a proper funeral. Poverty, and lack of a cemetery for Diepsloot, has driven many people to desperate measures.

Local undertaker, Fire Gumbo: "There was a stillborn in our area – the father and mother didn’t have any money. They took a small box and put him in there and went to the veld to dig there. A few days later the dogs went and dug it up."

Fire Gumbo is an undertaker in the Diepsloot region. He’s been operating his business from these premises just outside the settlement. In addition to the many problems, he hasn’t paid his rent for two months. He’s now facing eviction.

He also doesn`t have a refrigerator or a hearse, which is much needed for the growing number of funerals. Now he has approached Carlos for help, even though both will be working on credit with not much chance of being paid.

Fire also spends a lot of his time taking care of the needy and often finds himself acting as local priest when they are unable to afford an ordained minister.

Manu: "Why do you do it?"

Fire: "It’s from my heart, now it’s difficult to change, to drop everything and go and look for other work. I also feel shame for them because they want to bury their family."

The community is finding it increasingly difficult to come up with money for funerals, as the number of people dying is on the increase. Fire told us he has anything from 16 to 40 burials a week. Fire would never be able to cope with the workload without the help of Carlos, who has been providing some of his services for free.

Carlos: "I’ve helped from December, I’ve buried a lot."

Manu: "You’re digging into your own pocket. Why? You’re not Father Christmas."

Carlos: "I’m not Father Christmas but somebody must do something."

The story of the baby being dug up by a dog from a shallow grave was one of many that we came across during our investigation. Albert Satywetywe, councillor for Diepsloot, confirmed that the baby grave was not just an isolated incident.

Manu: "Are you aware of people being buried on the outskirts of this community?"

Albert: "I know about that."

Manu: "Are people allowed to do that?"

Albert: "Although it is not allowed, what can we do? We are human beings, we must see what we can do. We cannot just throw a person away."

But why is Diepsloot experiencing such a high death rate, especially amongst the young? Sibongile Mkhwanazi, an AIDS counsellor from Witkoppen Clinic, gave us an insight into some shocking statistics about this community.

Sibongile: "Out of the pregnant women we used to test, we get about seven out of 10 that are HIV positive. From the general side because we used to get them, out of 30 people a week, 25 are positive."

That would mean that out of an estimated population of 135 000, as many as 80%, or more than 100 000 people, are potentially HIV positive. With these kinds of statistics, it is no wonder that the death rate is spiraling out of control and that undertakers are facing such a high demand for burials.

Fire: "In our culture we try to give our family a last sendoff because we know we won’t see them anymore. If I’ve got a nice blanket I’ll put it on top of the coffin, and take the rest of the money just to give them love."
For communities like this one in Diepsloot, the first choice would be a private burial. What are the other options then? There’s cremation, or a pauper’s funeral where the state pays for the burial but the body is placed in an unmarked grave. The last two options are unacceptable to the community because they conflict with African traditions and culture.

Fire: "I had one of my friends, his wife said when I die I want a cremation. Last month the wife died, they cremated the body, they gave him the ash, so he’s busy with the ash and when he thinks about it and sees the ash he can’t even sleep at night. He came to me and asked me what he could do, there is a place to keep it but you have to buy the place to keep the ash, and he found you can go and visit that place."

One of the reasons the community is finding it almost impossible to afford a traditional funeral is because of high fees charged by government cemeteries for a gravesite.

Fire: "A grave is very expensive. The other day I paid R250 and they said the price is going up again."

Grave site fees at Alexandra cemetery, the closest to Diepsloot, have been increased to R1000 for non-residents of the Alexandra area - four times more than the fee charged to a resident. This may be all a family can afford with nothing left over for Carlos or Fire.

Carlos: "Last month it cost me about R22 000 to bury people and the money that came in was about R8 500 and I can’t do it anymore."

Manu: "If undertakers have to withdraw their assistance, where does that leave you?"

Fire: "The family will have to make a plan. They will look for an open space at night and dig. Maybe if you’ve got a farm near, if they can go to the farm and dig. Even if you have enough space in your house you can dig there and put the body."

Health workers in the community have expressed concerns about the risk of diseases, like cholera, being spread because of the illegal burials taking place in the open veld and sometimes under the very shacks in which people live.

To people in the wealthier suburbs the problems of places like Diepsloot may seem far removed. But areas surrounding the settlement are not immune to the effects of grinding poverty. If diseases are picked up due to informal burials, it is likely that they will be carried through to their places of employment. Whether that happens or not will depend on the urgency with which these problems are addressed.

Fire: "We’ve got a small suburb next to us where most of our residents are working – Dainfern. We’ve got Fourways Gardens, Lonehill, Bryanston. They’re going to take those diseases there because some of the people there are cooking, cleaning the house, so that’s what I’m afraid of."

Manu: "If we were to come back in a year what improvements would we see?"

Albert: "There is land which has been identified for graves, I’m not sure so far what is happening."

Manu: "Do you get the community coming to you knocking on your door, asking what is happening?"

Albert: "Yes, they do, but I always explain."

Manu: "Explain what, that there’s nothing happening?"

Albert: "No, it is in the process."

After waiting for a response from government for more than two years, Fire believes that it is now time to look elsewhere for relief.

Fire: "If we can get a bond to help us to get a piece of land next to us - we can’t even spend the money for transport to go - we can just walk and bury our people. That would be very good for us."

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: While every attempt has been made to ensure this transcript or summary is accurate, Carte Blanche or its agents cannot be held liable for any claims arising out of inaccuracies caused by human error or electronic fault. This transcript was typed from a transcription recording unit and not from an original script, so due to the possibility of mishearing and the difficulty, in some cases, of identifying individual speakers, errors cannot be ruled out.