Responding to some parliamentary questions posed by the DA’s member of the portfolio committee on health, Madeleine Bertine Hicklin, the minister of health, Joe Phaahla, revealed that there were 82 unclaimed bodies in state morgues in Mpumalanga as of March 15.

The total of unclaimed bodies in the whole country is 2 009. Unclaimed bodies in the rest of the provinces were recorded as follows:

• Free State – 73
• KwaZulu-Natal – 1 336
• Limpopo – 283
• Northern Cape – 51
• North West – 266

There were no numbers provided for the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Gauteng in Phaahla’s response.

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Hicklin’s query also included what the policy regarding unclaimed bodies is.

Phaahla’s written response states: “Regulation 341 of 2005 – Regulations Regarding the Rendering of Forensic Pathology Service, sections 43 and 44 make provision that a body not identified must be moved to a freezer within seven days of admission, and if such a body remains unidentified for 30 days the municipal council under whose jurisdiction the designated facility is must ensure that a pauper’s burial for such a body is undertaken, and the person in charge of a facility where there is an unidentified body must ensure that complete details of such a body, including a photograph, fingerprints and blood or tissue sample, are taken from the body and archived.”