Double blow for families of the dead

It is a case of a double blow for families of the dead as undertakers claim Covid-19 bodies are left in morgues longer than the prescribed 30-day disposal period because of disruption in services in some home affairs offices in Gauteng.

This week, undertakers said at least six home affairs offices in Johannesburg could not issue death certificates because they were closed for sanitation, had no resources, or had system failures.

According to Neil Keight, managing director of Thom Kight & Company funeral parlour, the Joburg Central home affairs office was on Wednesday closed due to a Covid-19 case and Eldorado Park office shut for sanitisation.

He said the system at Randburg branch was offline and had no ink, printers not working at Ennerdale, there were no burial order books in Lenasia, while the Soweto office was offline.

“We have many death certificates outstanding and the process is tedious. Bereaved families cannot be provided with the required paperwork,” Keight said.

He said this was unacceptable and unlawful since funeral parlours had been instructed by the health department that bodies be disposed of within three days.

“This could not work as if someone died on a Monday when the majority of our African clients prefer to bury their loved ones over weekends,” he said.

Secretary of the National Funeral Directors Association Elsabe Basilio said disruption of services at home affairs offices was a nationwide problem.

“They work at their own hours and funeral directors must queue with the public,” she said.

Undertakers say there are 60% more deaths compared to the first and second waves of Covid-19 but doctors were delaying in signing off death certificates.

The home affairs department has confirmed that the Johannesburg office closed yesterday due to a Covid-19 positive case and would only reopen on Monday after being sanitised.

Spokesperson Siya Qozo said they were arranging to have a mobile office so that services can be delivered there for today.

He also confirmed automated services at the Eldorado office were temporarily unavailable from 24 to 30 June due to power cable theft, technical challenges and a Covid-19 case.

“During this period, the office was doing handwritten death certificates,” Qozo said.

He said their Randburg and Soweto branches had not been offline for at least a month but that Ennerdale printers were working and have not had problems this year.

Qozo said the Lenasia office had enough stock of burial order books.