Rust-ter-Vaal: We are better than this!

This is an open letter to my community in Rust-ter-Vaal:
The cemetery here holds great significance for myself and my family. September 9 is the anniversary of the day we laid my cousin Gerald to rest in the cemetery where the people of Rust-ter-Vaal have been burying their loved ones for generations. My family, who still live in the area, are able to take a walk down to the cemetery, lay a wreath and remember my cousin. This is why we bury our loved ones close to home: it enables us to visit their graves whenever we wish, to pay homage to those that went before us.
It should therefore be understood, especially for South Africans who show a high reverence for their dead, that as far as it is possible, no family would willingly bury a loved one far away from their communities. However, people from Sharpeville, Sebokeng, Evaton and from as far afield as Orange Farm, bury their deceased loved ones in Rust-ter-Vaal Cemetery and because these are far larger communities than that of Rust-ter-Vaal, far more people die and the existing cemetery is seemingly running out of space for locals.
But in as much as locals are concerned with limited space in the cemetery, in as much as they want to bury their dead near their homes, the question begs, “What has the community done to ensure that the town council or the local municipality resolve their concerns?” Even if the competent authority ignores the people of Rust-ter-Vaal, are the scenes that played out on Saturday, August 29, remotely reasonable?
Having grown up in Rust-ter-Vaal, I know that the local cemetery is surrounded by fallow, unused veld. Has the community through written request, demanded or asked that the municipal authorities set aside this unused land for the graves of their loved ones?
The actions of those that petrol bombed a bus filled with mourners, people who had lost a loved one, people who already had to deal with the tragedy of loss, had their grief compounded when incendiary Molotov cocktails enveloped their bus in flames.
Why did this happen? Because people in the community insist that “their land is being used to bury outsiders”. Now, the community that I was always proud of has left me hanging my head in shame, as other communities have labelled those of Rust-ter-Vaal as murdering racists. How do I defend the actions of this past Saturday on my radio show when people already carrying sorrow were greeted with deadly flames by the community where I grew up? How will everyone else see Rust-ter-Vaal’s “side of the story” when we express ourselves in such a brutally violent way?
An old lady did not have to die, people didn’t have to get hurt and a bus didn’t have to be set alight by members of a community over the issue of where we bury our dead! There are better ways to have our voices heard.