Pretoria - The funeral of a woman who died of a suspected heart attack had to be delayed for a week as her family and her husband haggled over her body.
The high court in Pretoria put the burial of the mother of three on hold for a week after her family wanted to first have a post-mortem conducted on her body.
They wanted to establish whether she indeed died of a heart attack, as suspected by the paramedics who attended the scene.
The funeral of Miriam Boitumelo Makhuba was to take place last Saturday in Limpopo, but through the intervention of the court, her husband is only allowed to bury her this Saturday.
Her brother, Benjamin Semenya, a managing director at a Sandton pharmaceutical company, and her son, Tshegofatso Makhuba, turned to court on an urgent basis to have the funeral postponed.
The application was launched against her husband, Peter Makhuba and Lebowa Funerals.
It emerged that Peter Makhuba had the body whisked off to a funeral parlour shortly after her death, without her family being able to see her.
Her family also complained that they were not allowed to attend the funeral and that the husband would not tell them where it was to take place.
Semenya said in a statement before court that his sister fell ill without her family having knowledge of her ailment.
She lived with her husband in Orange Grove, Joburg. Her niece visited her on July 23 and reported to the family that she was gravely ill.
Semenya said he visited his sister the following day, on his mother’s instructions. He received a phone call late that night, from her niece saying that she had fainted.
He rushed back to her home, where he found paramedics treating her. They declared her dead on the scene and said it was a suspected heart attack. According to Semenya, her husband had her remains removed that same evening. He tried to speak to the husband regarding the funeral arrangements - to no avail.
Semenya said he went to the police to enquire about a post-mortem on her body and was advised to approach the court to obtain an interdict preventing her burial. “It is important for us as the family to determine the reason for her death.”
Semenya said his sister’s husband and their small children left for Zebediela in Limpopo before they could sort out the funeral arrangements. He apparently also told the funeral parlour that none of the deceased’s family was allowed to see her remains. “He is denying us as a family our traditional rights and responsibilities towards my late sister... We have a right to know what the cause of death was and we are entitled to partake in her funeral... I do not understand why he is refusing the family and his (eldest) son to attend the funeral.”
In terms of the court order, the funeral, rituals and burial will take place in Limpopo and the entire family is entitled to be part of it.
Pretoria News