Durban - The bodies of the two elderly women found mutilated at a Durban funeral facility were cremated last Thursday after a state pathologist completed his examination.
Operations director of Doves Funeral parlour Adriaan Batt, who requested the names of the affected families be withheld, said informing the families of the women that the bodies of their loved ones had been violated was the hardest thing he had ever done.
The women were 69 and 96 and had died of natural causes.
“It made me sick to the stomach. I was never prepared for this and I was angry that people would show such disrespect for the dead,” he said.
“The reality struck me when I had to phone the families. Can you imagine calling people who are in mourning, bringing them more grief?”
He said last Monday, during a routine inspection, when the bodies were brought in from the state pathologist, it was discovered that the women’s private parts, including a breast, had been removed.
He said the police were called and four possible suspects were identified.
After some questioning the four funeral directors were suspended and the matter was being investigated by police.
He said a few days later two more funeral directors were suspended, bringing the suspensions to six.
“These employees have worked for the company for between five and 15 years. They knew that the bodies would be cremated immediately on arrival and thought that they could get away with their grim actions.
“In my many years of working in this industry I have never had to face grieving families to tell them about a heinous act like this. We have offered counselling to the two families and we are keeping in touch with them.”
He also said all employees at the branch had been put through a lie detector test.
Provincial police spokesman Colonel Jay Naicker said no arrests had been made.
Professor Nceba Gqaleni, a member of the Traditional Health Practitioners’ Council of South Africa, and honorary research professor at the Durban University of Technology, said harvesting of human bodyparts was “pure witchcraft”.
“In the past dead people were respected, but that has been overtaken by witchcraft. These people harvesting body parts, taking them to so-called traditional healers, are criminals who engage in witchcraft with bogus healers.
“They deserve to rot in jail,” Gqaleni said.
Daily News