Body waits in limbo at funeral home
The funeral parlour has confirmed that they are happy to bury the young woman at their cost; all they are waiting for is official authorisation to do so
A dead woman has been left in limbo at a funeral home in Ladysmith for the last two years.
A story that truly defies bureaucratic logic, one so unusual that it is stranger than fiction, all started with the death of a young woman near the Indoor Sports Complex some two years ago.
Her body was found by her boyfriend and her death was ruled as due to natural causes.
He took her body to a Ladysmith funeral home and then set about finding the family of his girlfriend.
It was then that the story took a dramatic turn. He himself died from the illness that had claimed his girlfriend.
The girl at the funeral home went from a known person to an unknown person with his death.
The funeral home then contacted police to identify the body and to assist them with what to do next.
With no paperwork and no burial order, they could do nothing on their own.
Attempts to contact the Department of Health (uThukela) also drew a total blank, with nobody wanting to take responsibility for issuing a burial order. Without such an order, the funeral parlour was left literally holding the body.
Two years have since passed and despite numerous attempts to get answers, the young girl waits in limbo.
The funeral parlour has confirmed that they are happy to bury the young woman at their cost; all they are waiting for is official authorisation to do so.
“Whenever I go into our mortuary and I see the young girl, I feel so sorry. She has a family somewhere – she has parents, she is someone’s child and it haunts me seeing her waiting to take her final journey,” explained a visibly upset employee at the funeral parlour.
Ladysmith police spokesperson Captain Charmaine Struwig stressed that unfortunately for the police, their hands are tied. “We only deal with death by unnatural causes. As this girl died of natural causes, it is a Department of Health issue.”
Attempts to contact the Department of Health (uThukela) for a response have proved fruitless.
They have ignored e-mailed requests to comment on the story.
We have confirmed that as of going to press (Wednesday), the body is still waiting to be buried.
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