Sep 29, 2011 •
Pretoria and Bhisho are split over conditions at state- run mortuaries in the Eastern Cape after the national Department of Health downplayed the situation, while the legislature insists it is worse than reported. Two conflicting reports were released this week, one by the national department’s health forensic pathology services directorate and the other by the...
Aug 22, 2011 •
Mafia-style tactics by crooked funeral parlours who hold corpses for ransom across the Eastern Cape are reaching epic proportions with no solution in sight. Grieving families are often targeted by the coffin chasers, who charge massive fees for the release of a loved one – sometimes up to R6000.
Aug 19, 2011 •
Using a pauper’s burial to lay a loved one to rest is the same as burying a dog. These were the words used by Daisy Booth shortly after burying her friend as a pauper at the Mdantsane NU15 Cemetery recently.
Aug 19, 2011 •
Buffalo City Metro spends an average of R350000 a year on paupers’ burials, offering a service many describe as very basic. Over the last financial year the Metro buried 493 bodies of destitute and unknown people at a cost of R1516 for an adult and R792 for a child. By comparison, Amathole District Municipality carried...
Aug 19, 2011 •
The owner of an East London funeral parlour contracted by Buffalo City Metro to carry out pauper burials regrets the day she signed the tender agreement. During a month-long investigation into State mortuaries and pauper burials in the Eastern Cape, the Daily Dispatch found only one funeral parlour was contracted to bury unclaimed bodies in...
Aug 18, 2011 •
The five biggest gripes – and reasons for the shocking state of the morgues – from workers in EC’s State- run mortuaries are: Staff shortages, and workers being forced to work around the clock resulting from others being suspended for misconduct; Shortage of equipment resulting in the “mishandling” of corpses; No protective gear, resulting in...
Aug 18, 2011 •
Eastern Cape Health director of communications Siyanda Manana disputed claims that mortuary workers were forced to cut open bodies on their first day of work. A mortuary worker at Mthatha State mortuary said he was shocked when he was asked to cut open a body on his first day on the job.
Recent Comments