Durban - A go-slow by workers at three KwaZulu-Natal mortuaries is poised to add to the grief faced by families who have lost loved ones.
Unless a growing confrontation is defused, hold-ups loom in accessing the bodies for burial or cremation.
The go-slow is at the Magwaza Maphalala (Gale) Street mortuary, which receives between 40 and 50 bodies a week, and Pinetown and Stanger mortuaries, which each receive 30 to 50 bodies a week.
The industrial action began last Thursday when workers claimed the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health had failed to pay money due to them.
Employee representative, the Public and Allied Workers Union of SA (Pawusa), said there had been talks with shop stewards to have staff at all provincial mortuaries join the action.
There are more than 20 mortuaries in the province.
Pawusa’s provincial secretary, Halalisani Gumede, said the department had until tomorrow to meet their demands.
Gumede said the impasse dated to 2006 when the department took over the mortuaries from the police service.
“When the department took over, experienced and the newly-employed were scaled at the same grade.
“There have been ongoing talks with the department, followed by strikes and go-slows, but the department does not seem to understand the gravity of delaying doing the right thing.”
Gumede said that in 2009, the department had promised to pay those whose grades were lowered in 2006, but that never happened.
“We know this affects the families of the bereaved but the department is to blame for that. We have persevered with our demand and the department doesn’t seem to take us seriously.”
In 2010, generators at the Magwaza Maphalala mortuary were sabotaged, fridges switched off, identification tags cut from bodies and the corpses mixed up, allegedly by striking workers. Dissection tools and death registers reportedly went missing.
KZN violence monitor and member of the Medical Advocacy Network, Mary de Haas, described the 2010 conduct of mortuary workers as “pure criminality”.
“These people should not be doing this because of the nature of work they are doing.”
But she added: “The state of affairs in mortuaries is in shambles.”
De Haas said the health department was to blame.
“Last year we approached the Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela, to look into the state of affairs and the functioning of the provincial mortuaries. We are still negotiating with her (Madonsela’s) office. We also want her to look into the capabilities of the staff employed in these facilities.”
On Tuesday, the department’s communication head, Sam Mkhwanazi, said they had noted with regret the sign of a go-slow at the Magwaza Maphalala mortuary.
He said the department was working on an arrangement to transfer bodies to other mortuaries around Durban.
The department did not answer on whether the mortuary staff were owed money, and if so how much.
When contacted for comment last night, Health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo said he was not aware of the go-slow or grievances.
“I don’t want to deny that the employees have grievances but I have not received them.
“Maybe they have forwarded or will still forward them to the department managers,” he said.
Daily News