‘Body snatch” trauma
Empangeni woman has been left traumatised and out of pocket by a seemingly rogue funeral parlour
AS if losing her partner to cancer was not difficult enough, an Empangeni woman has been left traumatised and out of pocket by a seemingly rogue funeral parlour.
On 13 February, the woman, who spoke exclusively to the Zululand Observer on condition of anonymity, was at Ngwelezana Hospital awaiting a signed death notification after the passing of her partner three days earlier.
‘Because he passed away on Friday night, I was told to return to the hospital on Monday morning as I would need to take official documentation to Home Affairs before they could release his body,’ said the grieving woman.
‘While waiting, I was approached by a man who said he was from a local funeral parlour. he gave me his business card and said he would take my partner’s body to his mortuary’.
The man, known as Mthoko, quoted R20 000 for the funeral and said there would be no charge for mortuary storage.
‘I said I knew nothing about arranging a funeral, but Mthoko said he would help me.’
Official procedure dictates the deceased’s relatives must obtain a burial order and death certificate from Home Affairs before a hospital can release a body to a funeral parlour.
However, the woman said Mthoko had somehow obtained a document with the deceased’s finger prints and handed it to the driver of K and M Funeral Services, a different parlour from the business card originally given to her.
She said the document had been security stamped and Mthoko and the driver then removed the body.
Only after this did Mthoko drive the woman to Home Affairs, where he left her to obtain the burial order and death certificate.
On finding out her insurance policy would pay only in six weeks, she informed Mthoko she could pay for the funeral only then.
He refused and eventually persuaded the woman to pay R1 500 to release the body to Richards Bay Funeral Service, whose owner, on request from the woman, was only too willing to help her out of the situation.
‘Mortuary storage is supposed to be free, and Mthoko said it would be, so I don’t know why they charged me to release the body.
‘When they eventually released my partner’s body on Friday, in front of me and my stepdaughter they threw the body into the hearse, not in a body bag or covered with anything. There was no compassion.’
After a traumatic week, the funeral was held in Empangeni on Saturday.
‘I have no words to express my gratitude for Richards Bay Funeral Services. They arranged everything in less than 24 hours and gave my partner a funeral fit for a king’.
This traumatic experience has left her shaken and angry.
‘These people should never be allowed to prey on vulnerable people and others must be made aware of the official procedure for releasing bodies to funeral parlours.’
Ngwelezana Hospital’s Public Relations Officer was not available for commentand, while the Hospital Manager, who was made aware of our investigation, did not make himself available for comment.
Attempts to contact both Mthoko and K and M Funeral Services failed.
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