Sadness in Morogor as a metal thieves with metals

Grave after the grave after a grave in this cemetery in the eastern Tanzanian town of Morogoro was destroyed.

In some gap that once stood a metal crucifix, in others a religious symbol was bent while thieves, who hoped to sell it to merchants, tried to remove it.

More than 250 were targeted only in one small part of the municipal Cemetery of Kola.

Crimes generally happen at night when there is no security, and there are no cemeteries workers.

The families left the devastated and the places desecrated, distorting anger.

For more than two decades, Pudensian Chumbbi goes to the cemetery about once a month to visit her daughter and mother’s graves – in her troubles both have been detained in the last few years, several times.

The first target was her tomb of her mother, who died in 2000.

A few months after the family managed to save to replace the stolen cross at the end of 2021, her daughter’s grave was then damaged. It was nearby and a little older – her daughter died in 1997 at the age of 15.

Before Mrs. Chumbi could make a decision to repair her daughter’s cross, to horror, the new cross at her mother’s grave was transferred.

In distress about what to do next, she felt that metal was not an option when it came to replacing her daughter’s cross.

“This is my baby’s grave – my fourth child,” she said, pointing to the concrete cross.

The theft of crosses and markers from Graves became an upset trend in this part of Tanzania, triggered by a growing demand for waste metal.

“The people who do this are damned because everyone is sad about what is happening,” says Mrs. Chumbi BBC.

“There are some young men who now require the payment of graves overnight, especially those with tiles.”

Tiles can also be sold to people that can be used as decorations in their home.

Augustin Remmy, brother of Mrs. Chumbi, says it’s disturbing for the whole community.

“It’s too bad … When these areas that deserve respect are undergoing such bad acts, it really hurts a lot,” he tells the BBC.

The stealing rash reflects despair among some to make some money that overpowers ethical concerns about damage to the holy places.

Criminals can earn somewhere between 700 and 870 Tanzani shillings (0.27 to 0.34 USD; 0.22 to £ 0.28) per kilogram.

It is not a huge amount of money, but it can be enough to pay a plate of food from a supplier or some local alcohol grown.

“Metal traders often buy without asking questions,” says one man who acknowledged the BBC that he stole crosses from the cemetery to sell on the metal market.

By agreeing to speak on the condition of anonymity, he describes how thieves will first go to welders who have cut crosses into pieces before taking them away from waste traded.

The traders themselves are faced with the choice of buying cheaper stolen goods or monitoring of the law.

Odi Ramadhani, a Morogoro downtown dealer, recalls that in 2023, together with some other waste merchants, he caught someone trying to sell a stolen cross and report it to the authorities.

“In the past, they brought us crosses. But then we took one of them to the police, and later sentenced to three and a half years in prison -after that, the theft decreased, but now he is back,” Mr. Ramadhani says the BBC. .

Insists that he does not buy stolen goods.

“If a cross is brought here, the person who comes to sale will be in trouble because we will take him to the police.”

Thieves also started targeting other grave markers such as tiles and marble decorations, which can be easily sold to other customers.

Dr. Ndimile Kilata, Health Officer Morogoro, said the city authorities planned to improve the safety of the cemeteries by introducing fence and guards, but warned that “they demand resources and time.

“It’s not something we can do today or tomorrow.”

He also mentioned initiatives to educate waste sellers about materials that should not be bought, such as grave markers and rail components.

In response to crimes, the Government of Tanzania has also committed to regulate the metal industry.

Prime Minister Dotto Biteko emphasized the need to comply with the licensed companies to comply with laws and regulations.

“What it takes is to do so and that the population of schools in the same topic. We will be educated by our people so we put our infrastructure safe on safe,” he told the BBC.

Religious leaders also complain to their communities to make more to prevent them from involving them in these crimes.

Pastor Steven Msigar of Jesus gathering God in Morogor, he called for a united effort to educate young people about the need to respect holy places.

“Together we have to bring back their dignity, we know that some young men are exposed to bad acts, but we can bring them back on the right path,” he says.

For the relatives of those whose graves were denying a sense of frustration.

Mrs. Chumbi wants more money to be spent on cemeteries safety, as well as an obligation to carefully care for web locations that suit the place where the loved ones are laid to rest.

She is in the process of replacing her mother’s cross a second time – and, as in her daughter’s case – she decides to concrete.