The Lowveld Crematorium and Funeral Services, in Mbombela was recently raided by burglars, causing a loss of cremation data all the way back to 1997.
This means about 13 000 cremations will have to be re-recorded.
The incident is suspected to have occurred on Sunday night or in the early hours of Monday. The suspect(s) broke into the crematorium offices at 99 De Kock Street, next to the Nelspruit Cemetery. The burglary was reported to the Nelspruit SAPS on Monday.
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The manager of this family-owned crematorium, Michelle Scheepers, said she and the staff now need to redo the accounting from February 2023 and re-record the cremations that had been backed up on the internal and external hard drives that were stolen.
“We came in on Monday morning and found that the burglar bar of the window in reception had been broken and lifted. This is where the burglar(s) gained entry. We do not know the actual time they broke in. Unfortunately, we do not have CCTV surveillance,” she said.
“They stole three laptops, including my personal one, a tablet, a desktop computer and an external and internal hard drive on which we stored all the records of our cremations. They also took the microwave, kettle, toaster, a Snappy Chef cooker, a coffee machine, any food the staff had left and all the toilet paper rolls we had in the bathroom. They entered the workroom and stole our machine motors, all the toolboxes with tools and our branded gazebos for events and funerals,” Scheepers said.
We have hard copies of the older cremations, but we relied on keeping records mostly electronically. It was easier for us to keep our records on hard drives and work laptops, because they were easily accessible.
According to the National Health Act 61 of 2003, every crematorium has to keep a register for each cremation performed, and each register should contain all the details of the deceased.
“Since my late father established this business, we have had approximately 13 000 cremations. We have hard copies of the older cremations, but we relied on keeping records mostly electronically. It was easier for us to keep our records on hard drives and work laptops, because they were easily accessible. Now we need to put several hours into recording all these cremations again.”
She said other irreplaceable data she lost included photos of her father, Martin Arnold, who established the business in 1997. “I had saved all the pictures of my dad on my personal laptop. I have lost the reminders I had of him and our moments together.”
Scheepers said the crematorium has never been hit by such a devastating burglary. She said the only other incident occurred in the garden in 2008, a week before her father died.
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Despite possibly having sleepless nights filing the records, the business is running as usual. “Our business insurance company is already working on the case to compensate for the stolen items. The plan is to get a laptop to work on, because we cannot close our doors. People need our services. An associate has also lent us motors for the cremator to continue providing funeral and cremation services to the community of the Lowveld.
Scheepers said she had reported the burglary to the police. A Nelspruit police spokesperson, Constable Bongani Mokoena, confirmed that the case was being investigated.
