The Free State Ward 47 councillor, Mokgadi Kganakga, says the fire was started by these alleged municipal workers and it swept through across the site and burned several graves. She says helpless security guards watched in disbelief as these workers torched this site. 

A video and pictures taken by some of the concerned residents show how several graves were badly burned by the fire. Kganakga questioned the logic behind the process of cleaning the site by fire during winter, when conditions could potentially cause a fire running wild. The municipality is yet to comment on questions OFM News sent over the alleged incident.

"There were [eyewitnesses] that saw the people from Mangaung setting the place on fire in an attempt to clean it. The security at the cemetery just stood and watched the place being torched," Kganakga adds. The video also shows a huge [cloud of] smoke through the air as the fire started moving across these graves in that area.

OFM News