A family from Rolle Trust in the Bushbuckridge municipality has been left frustrated after plans to bury their loved one were reportedly hampered by the Limpopo Department of Health. The Sambo family planned to hold the funeral of Khensani Goodness Sambo (56) in Rolle Trust on Thursday, June 25.

Khensani died during surgery at a private hospital in Hoedspruit on June 11, making it a state matter that requires a postmortem be conducted before her remains can be released to her next of kin.

Her body was transported to Maphutha Malatjie Hospital in Namakgale, Phalaborwa, for the postmortem, which the family was told would be conducted on Wednesday, June 17. Based on this information, they travelled 128km from Rolle Trust to the hospital on Thursday, June 18, to collect Khensani’s body and begin making funeral arrangements.

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“We were very shocked when hospital officials told us the postmortem date had been postponed to Monday, June 22. The reason we were given was that the pathology officer had family challenges that he needed to attend to,” said Calvin Sambo, Khensani’s husband.

Calvin said the family was forced to adjust their plans, and decided to hold the funeral on Thursday, June 25. However, on June 22, he said, the family was again shocked after being told by the hospital that the postmortem had once again been postponed, this time to Tuesday, June 23. Once again, the pathologist’s family was cited as the reason.

Frustrated by the situation, Calvin contacted Lowveld Media, and the publication sent a media enquiry to Neil Shikwambane, the Limpopo spokesperson for the Department of Health. Shikwambane said he was in contact with the family’s next of kin, and that the postmortem would be conducted on Thursday, June 25.

Lowveld Media contacted Tlangelani Ubisi, the family member mentioned by Shikwambane. “The deceased is my aunt. We tried nearly everything we could to get the correct date for the postmortem but we have so far been unsuccessful. I think we shall end up having to approach the High Court to order the Limpopo Department of Health to do the right thing,” said Ubisi, who was not aware of the latest date mentioned by Shikwambane.