The FF Plus is concerned about the massive backlog of unclaimed corpses at state mortuaries across the country, which puts the existing facilities under immense pressure.
The backlog currently stands at 3 186 in the nearly 130 state mortuaries countrywide. KwaZulu-Natal, with 1 527, and the Eastern Cape, with 526, appear to be the biggest problem areas.
The main causes of the backlog include poor identification and next of kins’ failure to claim the bodies. Illegal immigrants who cannot be identified exacerbate the problem.
Other factors include the backlog and delay in transporting and analysing DNA samples, poor quality fingerprints, outstanding investigations, corruption where next of kin have to pay to claim the body, outstanding toxicology reports, the needless delay of funerals and cremations due to a shortage of burial spaces, budget deficits and poorly functioning crematoria.
A task team liaising between government and role players in the industry must be formed to effectively address these problems. It is already a crisis which cannot be left unchecked.
The population is growing rapidly, crime is on the rise and these institutions’ capacity falls far short. It appears that no solutions have been found, despite collaboration and talks between government and the relevant role players.
One of the solutions proposed by the FF Plus is implementing a digital fingerprint system to help identify the deceased arriving at state mortuaries.
There should also be formal collaboration between the national government, role players in the funeral industry, the Departments of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Home Affairs and Health, the police, the National Health Laboratory Service as well as provincial and local governments.
The latter is where the problems relating to crematoria and inadequate burial space are rooted.
Properly training forensic officials is also crucial and the Government of National Unity (GNU) will have to amend existing legislation in this regard.
Existing state mortuaries and crematoria should be urgently upgraded, and new ones should be built. More burial space needs to be made available, and the relevant institutions’ budget deficits need to be addressed on national level.
Decisive action should be taken against corruption, and alternative methods for burying remains should be found and implemented.
The FF Plus will, as in the past five years, continue to facilitate ongoing discussions between role players in the funeral industry and private forensic industry. It simply cannot go on like this and everyone should work together to find solutions.
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