A Soweto family has told of the trauma of finding a decomposed body of a loved one at a state mortuary, just days after their father died.
This while food producers warn that the pressure on the agricultural sector remains due to rolling blackouts in the country.
Lindiwe Mdaniso of Snake Park, Soweto, discovered that the body of her 83-year-old father had decomposed at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital mortuary, just three days after his death on Tuesday.
Mdaniso said on arrival, the family was warned by the state mortuary that their father, Cecil Themba Mdaniso’s corpse was decomposing as a result of constant power outages.
“When we went with our undertakers to go and collect his body on Thursday, my father’s body had a foul smell. They said load shedding was affecting the temperature of the fridges and they do not have generators to power them.
“It is very painful that while you are dealing with mourning your loved one, the last memory you have of him is in this traumatising state. It really breaks my heart,” said Mdaniso.
As if that was not bad enough, the family struggled for two days to get a death certificate from their local home affairs office that was offline due to power cuts.
Mdaniso said they could not claim funds from any policies due to outstanding documents, further delaying the burial.
The state of her father’s body means they will not be able to bring it to their home as per African custom as a symbol of his final journey.
Funeral Industry Reformed Association (Fira) president Johan Rousseau said last week alone, there were four cases of decomposing bodies in state mortuaries.
Rousseau said load shedding was not only killing the industry but also causing trauma to families who had to collect the decomposed bodies of their loved ones.
“I have heard the calls from some counterparts in the industry, telling people to bury their loved ones within three to four days. It is simply not practical as the industry relies heavily on other department such as carpenters (for coffins) and home affairs for death certificates, and death insurers. They too are affected by load shedding, which delays the burial process.
“Only those with money will afford to bury within three to four days, putting at a disadvantage the majority of poor who might have to bury decomposed remains,” Rousseau said.
Geoff Whyte, CEO of Africa, Middle East and Asia for Nando’s said there is continued pressure on the availability of fresh chicken due to load shedding at the farms.
“The pressure of load shedding on chicken production, processing and logistical deliveries continue and is getting worse. We have a very professional team working around the clock to make sure that we keep the best quality chicken at all our restaurants so that we can keep trading with our full menu,” said Whyte.
Earlier this month, KFC announced that it has been forced to close 70 outlets due to load shedding impacting chicken producers.
Astral Foods, which supplies KFC, is expected to make announcement on the issue on Wednesday.
Dr Jonny van der Merwe, Agri Market Trends MD, said the persistence of load shedding will remove small and medium food producers from the system.
“Larger producers that can weather the storm and have solar power and other sources of energy will remain. But all will definitely mean lower production and higher prices on food. This will ultimately have a negative impact on food security because you will have less producers [of food] and more people are unable to afford food,” Van der Merwe said.
newsdesk@sowetan.co.za
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