Bodies pile up at Frontier Hospital

Bodies began to pile up at Frontier Hospital as a result of the national shutdown of funeral parlours from Monday till Wednesday.

This was confirmed by department of health provincial spokesperson, Siyanda Manana.

The shutdown was called by the Unification Task Team (UTT).

We have not received

“reports of bodies in any other Chris Hani hospitals not being fetched,” Manana said.

The hospitals are not

“under pressure, except for Frontier, where the fridges are full.

We suspect that it may be “as a result of the funeral parlour strike action that is currently taking place.”

On Monday, however, it seemed to be business as usual for most funeral parlours in Komani, with a few exceptions.

Though local funeral parlour owners agreed with some of the demands, they did not support the aggressive threats towards those reluctant to join.

On Monday, Russell and Son, Abaveleli, Pakade Funerals and Avbob were some of the parlours operating in Komani, with Doves the exception.

Most of the Komani funeral parlours are affiliated to the South African Funeral Practitioners Association (Safpa), which announced it would not be part of the shutdown.

Doves branch manager, Luntu Singeni, said though they did fall under Safpa, they decided to close for the safety of their staff and business.

Chris Hani District funeral directors deputy chairperson

Mandlenkosi Pakade, who is also owner of Pakade Funerals said: We understand some of

“the grievances, but the threats are the reason we refused to leave our clients unattended. Imagine the trauma it

“would put on the family if the body of a loved one was not collected.

We hear people who went “to fetch bodies from Cecilia Makiwane Hospital were attacked and the drivers beaten up while on duty. We need to use our

“discretion in other cases. We cannot close because “people are being threatened. We are working closely

“with Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality to improve the standards of businesses in the area.

We do not have space to

“build our businesses.

We are renting, which

“makes it difficult to request a Certificate of Competence,”

Pakade said. Due to a lack of space, funeral parlours are unable to keep mortuary fridges, he said.

He added that the EMLM had agreed to start rezoning to allow people to buy plots and buildings to develop and expand their businesses.

With regard to the Unemployment Insurance Fund, he said because funeral parlours were classified as essential services during the lockdown, it would not be easy to claim the funding. We had issues with

“personal protective equipment [PPE] which was not always available. When it was available, it was highly prized,”said Pakade.

He said they had negotiated with the department of health to be included when the department ordered PPE as their employees were susceptible to contracting Covid-19.