The grave truth behind the proposed Sizwe housing scheme

JORDAN MOSHE

Such is the case regarding the Sizwe Tropical Disease Hospital, which sits in a 17 000-hectare plot of land between Club Street, the N3 highway and Modderfontein Road in Johannesburg. This land, which today lies opposite the Linksfield Golf Course and Sandringham High School, has housed the hospital since its construction in 1895.

When it first opened its doors as the Rietfontein Lazaretto, it stood in a remote location, far from the town centre. It treated patients suffering from tuberculosis, leprosy and the dreaded smallpox.

Plans to develop residential buildings, schools and other facilities on the plot surrounding the hospital have been delayed for years because of the controversy over what’s believed are thousands of graves buried in those grounds. Many of these graves are unmarked and include those of Jewish people.

“The developers are pressing to go ahead and say that they know exactly where all the graves are,” says Naomi Dinur, an activist standing in the way of the development because she insists they have not located all the graves on the land. “What they are showing in their plan is only a small fraction of the graves, and they will be building on a graveyard site. This is illegal according to law.”

According to Dinur, many of the hospital’s patients who perished were interred there – including Jews. “About 7 000 people of diverse backgrounds, – including Indians, Malawians, Irish, English, Germans, Poles and, of course, South Africans – are buried there. Three of the original five cemeteries have been found, but to date there is no sign of the Jewish cemeteries and the cemeteries of lepers who perished.”

Supporting the belief that Jewish graves are located at the site, Dinur cites inscriptions found in certain Chevrah Kadisha documents. “There is 100% proof of a Jewish graveyard in these books, which list the names of Jewish patients who died at the hospital until 1919. The records specify that these people were buried at the Rietfontein Lazaretto, so a Jewish graveyard must exist. There could be less than 20 graves, or more than 100. We just don’t know.”

She could not find Chevrah Kadisha records of how many Jews were buried, or even if Jews were interred there between 1919 and 1958, the year in which the hospital stopped burying its dead on the grounds. This, together with the fact that many graves have been desecrated or had their markers removed, makes the process of identifying or locating Jewish graves virtually impossible.

“Unfortunately, we’re not sure where the Jewish gravesite is,” says Dinur. “Metal markers rather than tombstones identified most of these burial sites, and they disappeared. Mr Eben De-Villiers, manager of the nursery in the grounds of the Sizwe hospital, remembers some years back seeing huge heaps of metal markers with numbers on them. All this metal, he said, was collected from the graves and sold as scrap metal. There must be documents to prove the existence of more Jews who were buried there, but they have not yet come to light.”

Urban Dynamics Gauteng won the tender to develop the site, but before building can go ahead, the company has to submit all the relevant assessments and building plans to the Gauteng department of human settlements.

In order to determine the number of gravesites on the land, an Environmental Impact Assessment was conducted along with the town planning application. “A team of qualified specialists was appointed to independently research the matter of graves on the site,” said Jon Busser, director of Urban Dynamics.

“They were appointed to consider historical records and photographic archives, consult with local residents and conduct on-site physical surveys to determine the exact location and extent of historic graveyards on the property. They concluded that there were three graveyards on this property.”

Busser said these areas will be excluded from any development and will be maintained to preserve the rich heritage of the site.

Regarding the possibility of other gravesites featuring in the grounds,as Dinur claims there are, Busser seems sceptical. To say that there are 7 000 bodies buried there is impossible and ridiculous. The hospital has a capacity of 260 beds, so we put the number closer to 2 000. Although we might have incomplete records knowing exactly who was buried where, we know exactly where the bodies are. We have these sites on record.”

Moreover, Busser says that a notice was published to invite the public and organisations to provide information or evidence of human or possible animal graves. “To date, there is no evidence of graves or graveyards outside of the three identified areas indicated on the layout plan.”

Busser addressed the question of a Jewish cemetery by saying an environmental consultant was involved in the site investigation. “Despite extensive research, very little information on the so-called Jewish cemetery could be obtained. Only one reference to a Jewish cemetery was found in a register obtained from the Chevrah Kadisha archives.”

Busser explained that during the public participation process, a possible graveyard site was identified. However, on further investigation, the graveyard was found to be underlaid with greenstone with a soil layer of less than a metre. This meant that historically, the area could not have been used for burials. “The heritage assessment concluded that such a Jewish cemetery would probably have been a section in the identified European [historical term for white] cemetery,” Busser said.

Rabbi Gidon Fox, chairperson of the SA Rabbinical Association, said it was not totally forbidden to build on the site of graves. “If we could identify the Jewish graves, they should be moved to a Jewish cemetery.

“If no such determination can be made, efforts should be made to prevent building on that site. To protect the integrity of the site, trees may be planted in the area.”

“However, should the above prove impossible, the community would not be obliged to expend tremendous fiscal resources to prevent the desecration of the site.”