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Bereaved families across the country were unable to collect the remains of their loved ones yesterday as funeral undertakers embarked on a nationwide shutdown, barring the removal of corpses from government mortuaries and hospitals.
There are fears that the national shutdown will have adverse consequences on a public health system already overburdened with corpses if the impasse is not resolved. The strike by funeral parlours affiliated to the Unification Task Team (UTT) is expected to end tomorrow.
Undertakers prevented removal of bodies from morgues and hospitals. They also would not assist clients with burial arrangements.
Some families travelled hundreds of kilometres to fetch bodies from government mortuaries but were left frustrated due to the shutdown.
At the Diepkloof Forensic Pathology Services centre in Soweto, Benjamin Chauke struck a frustrated figure. His nephew Xonisani Maluleke died last week and was due to be transported to Pretoria yesterday. However, his remains could not be removed due to the strike.
“We found out yesterday that undertakers would not be working today. We made arrangements for my nephew’s remains to be moved from here to Pretoria, then transport them to Limpopo on Tuesday [today] because his funeral is meant to be on Thursday,” Chauke said.
Cloepers Sibiya drove seven hours to get his son's body from the Springs government mortuary but has been left helpless.
Speaking to Sowetan outside the Springs Forensic Laboratory, the 64-year-old from Engwavuma in KwaZulu-Natal said his plea to be allowed to get the body fell on deaf ears.
“I left home last night with the hope to fetch my son's remains. I have no relatives here and nowhere to stay [while I] wait for the strike to end,” said Sibiya.
He said he could not afford a funeral undertaker from KwaZulu-Natal to come to Gauteng to collect the body of his 34-year-old son Lucky, who stayed in Pennyville, Springs.
“I went to the police station in Ngwavuma and got an affidavit and permission to fetch my son's body using a bakkie I hired from a neighbour. This strike is really frustrating me because I cannot afford to go back home without the body, I am a pensioner,” he said.
The family went back to KZN without the body late yesterday.
Lucky's brother Vusi said: “Our attempts to get his body were in vain, even the Springs police failed to assist us after we went to the mortuary with them to negotiate with UTT.”
Kabelo Mokomele, whose grandmother died yesterday, said his family was frustrated after they were told they cannot collect his grandmother’s remains.
“We got a call from the [Tembisa] hospital yesterday about Gogo's passing and we were told to make arrangements with our undertaker to remove the body from the hospital morgue. However, our undertaker told us they were on strike till Wednesday.”
He said they were left in limbo as they hoped to bury his grandmother on Saturday.
“We would like the government to fix the issues with undertakers with immediate effect to prevent more families going through all this trouble,” he said.
Despite the frustration experienced by families, UTT’s national convener Thokozani Dladla said: “The government takes us for granted and refuses to engage us on a meaningful level. Government is disrespecting this industry and we felt that after all we have done throughout the lockdown period, we need to withdraw our services from removing bodies and conducting funerals.”
He said the funeral industry was regulated by a number of government departments, which made it hard for them to operate.
He said they want the government to recognise the sector and its R4bn contribution to the economy.
Department of health national director of environmental health Murdock Ramathuba said the protest will cause a backlog in government mortuaries if the shutdown by undertakers continues.
“Our health facilities have limited capabilities with over-utilised space. It [the shutdown] will cause a backlog in terms of management of human remains and this will have an impact on the health of those who are working in such facilities.”
Ramathuba said the department has held discussions with UTT about their concerns and that they hoped these would be resolved soon. “One of the key issues the associations brought forward was that they don’t want to produce certificates of competence, but this has been addressed.”
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