Verulam residents alarmed by public indecency at Wick Street cemetery

Men have been masturbating on graves at a Verulam cemetery almost daily since January, according to complaints laid with a private security company

Residents of Verulam are outraged as reports emerge of men engaging in public indecency at Wick Street Local Cemetery, prompting calls for action from local authorities.

This is according to complaints laid with private security company Reaction Unit SA (RUSA).

RUSA said the complaints concerned the Wick Street Local Cemetery in the Verulam central business district, north of Durban.

The Funeral Industry Reformed Association said it was concerned by the reports, and called on government, municipalities and law enforcement to act decisively.

According to RUSA, as many as four different men have been using the graveyard during the day and in the evening, standing or lying on graves and tombstones while watching pornographic videos.

"Residents further reported that the audio from the pornographic videos could be heard by children living in surrounding residential complexes," RUSA said.

RUSA said it was called in on Monday morning by Project 360, a security and cleaning company that had been fielding complaints from people living in a block of flats beside the cemetery.

Municipal workers and members of the public have tried to drive the men off.

"Despite these interventions, the individuals allegedly return to the cemetery and continue their activities, at times in full view of members of the public," RUSA said.

The company said its drone pilot would fly regular patrols over the cemetery, with reaction officers sent in when needed.

FIRA chair Johan Rousseau said the case raised wider questions about access control at cemeteries, municipal oversight, and whether complaints are acted on at all.

"Cemeteries are places of dignity, remembrance and mourning," he said.

"Families should be able to visit the graves of their loved ones without fear, intimidation, exposure to inappropriate behaviour or the desecration of sacred spaces.