DURBAN - WHILE violent protests continue to ravage the country, bodies are piling up in state and private mortuaries.
National Funeral Practitioners’ Association of SA (NafupaSA) president Muzi Hlengwa said they had started to feel the impact of the protests.
“Both state and private mortuaries were unable to process and prepare bodies for funerals. If the situation doesn’t return to normal by the end of the week, private mortuaries will soon run out of space because bodies have started to pile up.”
He said they were concerned as the situation was a double blow for their sector.
“We were already stretched by Covid-19, whose death numbers had started to grow faster, but now we are overwhelmed by the deaths as a result of the violent protests. Even our offices have been looted. People broke in and stole coffins, so it’s really bad for us,” said Hlengwa.
A Phoenix state mortuary staff member who declined to be named said they had been overwhelmed by the killing of people in Phoenix and Verulam.
She said their mortuary had only two vans and they could not go out without a police escort.
“The situation is really bad on our side, to the point that police themselves had to load bodies on their vans and bring them to mortuaries. The body of a man who was knocked down by a car in the early hours on Wednesday was only collected after 2pm.”
Home Affairs eThekwini general manager Mbongeni Magagula said that with staff unable to get to work their offices were closed.
“Today (on Thursday) we will dispatch state vehicles to fetch members from their homes.”
Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane on Wednesday said mortuary surgeons were unable to come to work.
“To minimise the impact we have enlisted the services of the police, who escort Forensic Pathology Service staff to collect bodies.”
Daily News