Family outraged after mom’s body exhumed

An East London family was shattered when they found municipal workers had opened their mother’s grave without their presence, broken open her coffin and left her body exposed.

The incident happened this week at the Buffalo Flats cemetery.

The family, who asked not be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, said their mother’s corpse was scheduled to be exhumed yesterday.

However, when they visited the grave-site at midday they found it had already been dug open and covered with scaffolds.

“We could see the heap of dry soil next to the grave and when we removed the scaffolds, we saw the coffin was broken and my mother’s face was exposed,” said one of the woman’s sons.

According to the family, they requested that their mother’s remains be exhumed after learning she not only shared the grave with their father, but also with their father’s first wife.

The family claim Buffalo City Metro (BCM) officials failed to inform them their father’s first wife was also buried in the same grave.

“When our mother died this March we went to BCM and asked to bury our mother with our father.

“They opened up the grave and never mentioned that the wife was also buried in the same grave. We only discovered this recently, hence we requested our mother to be exhumed,” said the son.

When the Dispatch arrived at the Buffalo Flats cemetery on Thursday afternoon, the family of the deceased were at the site. Police were also at the scene.

“We do not even know how long her corpse had been exposed. They treated our mother like a dog – someone will have to account for this,” said a family member, who said they were planning to take legal action against BCM.

A senior BCM official and cemetery supervisor were also at the scene on Thursday but refused to speak to the media.

By the time of writing yesterday, BCM had not responded to questions sent to them.

Denzel Fuller of Integrity Funeral Home, who was scheduled to facilitate the exhumation, alleged proper processes were not followed.

He said the metro was not authorised to open a grave without the family’s presence and without the presence of a health officer, saying the process was a health hazard and safety precautions had to be taken.

“An undertaker, a priest or pastor and the police are also required to be present.”

Ward councillor Derek Green, who was called to the site, accused the metro of contravening the National Health Act which guides the management of human remains.

“The act clearly stipulates that a health official needs to be present and the exhumed grave needs to be concealed from the public eye but none of that took place,” said Green.

He said during the exhumation process, protective gear had to be worn and the family and undertaker had to be involved.

“BCM’s first blunder was failing to inform the family and the funeral parlour that there were already two people in the grave and allowing a third person to be buried in one grave.

Pastor Rodwell Frederick described the incident as shocking.

“We ought to ask ourselves – is this an isolated case or is this how the municipality handles such sensitive procedures?” Frederick asked. — arethal@dispatch.co.za