Lets start the cremation debate

| Tuesday September 28, 2010 00:00

In the current edition of our sister publication, The Monitor, Lands minister Nonofo Molefhi has elicited a debate in which he is calling on Batswana to consider cremation as a new form of burial. Minister Molefhi says the realities of land shortage makes cremation a practical alternative. In light of the state of the cemeteries in our towns and major villages one is bound to sympathise with the view expressed by the minister. It is common to find more than one cemetery in a town or village. In other places they have up to four cemeteries.  Cemeteries by nature take a huge chunk of land that is quickly used up with communities queuing up again for more land to bury the dead. Cemeteries nowadays compete for space with applications for residential, active community and civic applications and industrial plots. Given the sensitive nature of a cemetery they will always be favoured over other land demands.

Of course the pressure on land in other areas other than the urban is less and might not immediately warrant a discussion on land conservation. The reality,  however is that land conservation should never wait until a crisis beckons. We should always be proactive on issues of land conservation and avert it before disaster strikes.

We, however, appreciate that the issue of cremation is a very emotive one as it touches on the way we have been paying respect to our dear departed ones. This is an ingrained practice and will not change with any immediacy as it is a subject that needs to be handled with care. To a lot of us giving the departed ones a send off is crucial and should be accorded the same importance in land allocation as other necessities.

While this is a subject that needs to be handled with all sensitivity there is no denying that this is a subject that we cannot shy away from forever. We believe the time to discuss the subject is now.

Lets start this discussion everywhere, in our communities, and even in churches. Like every foreign practice it will be frowned upon but that does not make it wrong or an anathema. Our forefathers would be repelled by the thought but let us also bear in mind that our forefathers did not live in an era where there was pressure on land at the scale we are witnessing now.

Efficient use of land is a reality that cannot be postponed and if it means that we have to adopt foreign methods to avert having landless living souls we might just have to bite the bullet and embrace new practices. It is never a nice feeling to abandon what you are used to but sometimes circumstances compel us to do so. Of course cremation is not the only alternative that should be part of our national discussion but it is certainly something to be considered. Let us start the discussion now knowing that there are other people, Hindus for instance who practice it.

                                                        Today's thought

                                   There is no law in the Bible against cremation

                                                             -Nonofo Molefhi