The two, Nontombi Thengela (20) and Tlotlo Ngakane (30) are currently involved in a court battle with Sebokeng Hospital, the dispute is over the burial of a corpse of a baby which the couple are disputing is theirs.
In 2019, Thengela was rushed to Sebokeng Hospital where she gave birth to a baby boy. Thengela alleges that after giving birth, the nurses showed her the baby and then took her away.
“I was taken to another ward. I was six months pregnant at the time but I thought everything had gone well since the nurses showed me my baby. Hours later, the nurses called me to the baby’s ward where they showed me the body of a baby. They said that my baby had died.” Thengela said she told the nurses that the baby they were now showing her was not hers. “I told them that that baby was too big to be mine and looked nothing like the baby they showed me after giving birth.”
Thengela and Ngakane say they have wasted a lot of money on being sent from pillar to post with regards to their complaint.
To date, they have still not buried their baby.
“We have been going to the hospital for 7 months now, trying to find out what happened to our baby because the baby they want us to bury is not ours. We would like to ask the Gauteng Health Department to intervene in the matter. We would also like an independent DNA test to be done so that we can get the answers we need.”
The couple is asking for help regarding the matter as they want to bury their baby and begin their healing process. “We can only begin our healing process when all of this has been resolved.”
The hospital has now put in an application to the Sebokeng Magistrate Court to bury the baby as a pauper since the young parents will not sign the papers to arrange for the baby’s removal from the government mortuary.
