Family without body to bury finally found closure last Friday

The family has endured the pain and heartache of having a burial in Potchefstroom while the deceased laid in a grave in Orkney.

Isaac, the brother of the deceased, still shows signs of the trauma he has been through. He says the Matlosana municipality called to tell him the exhumation will start at 08:00.

‘The body was taken straight to the cemetery in Potchefstroom to be reburied,’ he says, admitting that it has not been easy for the family.

‘My 13-year-old niece failed her exams. Having her mother gone and hearing stories of her being buried in another town has affected her tremendously; she has not received any counselling,’ he said.

Isaac, himself, has been off work because he cannot cope with the trauma. He is a construction worker in Potchefstroom. ‘I am the only breadwinner at home and I fear that I won’t have a job when I go back. There hasn’t been any income since the mix-up,’ he said. He has had sleepless nights since then.

 

Two weeks ago, the Herald carried the story of Thandiwe, who passed away in Potchefstroom Hospital on 31 August after a short illness on 31 August. The Orkney-based funeral parlour transported her body to Kanana, some 40 km from Potchefstroom, and left the family with the body of a man.

Sipho Mafoleni, the owner of Thuso Funeral Burial Society, confirmed the incident and admitted their negligence.

Tebogo Lekgethwane from the NW Department of Health has confirmed that the funeral parlour has applied for exhumation. The documentation was subsequently signed off on 26 September. ‘An official from Matlosana Municipality took the application to Human Settlements on the same day,’ he says.

‘The Department of Human Settlement has just notified us that the MEC has signed the final approval. The department has done what needs to be done for the body to be exhumed in good time. ‘This is not the first time that the department has dealt with a case like this and we believe this has been handled well,’ he concluded.