Fatima Schroeder
6 November 2009
An Elsies River man has to witness the exhumation of his 74-year-old mother's body three months after she was mistakenly buried by a family she had never met.
Florina Magdalena Makhalalo died on August 4 and was buried in Maitland on August 8 - by a family who thought they had buried 82-year-old Maria Elizabeth October.
Now the undertaker for the Makhalalo family has obtained a Western Cape High Court order to exhume her body and hand it to her son, Fortuin Swarts, for reburial.
In court papers, it emerged that the Makhalalo family gathered on the morning of August 15 to bury Florina.
But when the coffin arrived at their home and was opened for viewing, they realised the body inside was not hers.
Last month, after DNA and fingerprint tests were conducted, they discovered that the body they had been about to bury was that of October, whose family had already held her funeral a week earlier.
The Octobers were not aware that they had buried the wrong body.
The Makhalalo family then contacted undertaker Raymond Stemmet, of Discreet Burial Services, to say they had received the wrong body.
Makhalalo had a thin face, receding hairline and identifiable marks and bruises on her body. But these were not present on the body they received on the day of her funeral.
Records at AB Mortuary in Bishop Lavis show that Makhalalo's body was stored on rack 58. October's was stored on rack 22.
Once Stemmet had received confirmation from the Department of Home Affairs that the body in their possession was that of October, he realised that Arendse Funerals, which represented the October family, must have buried Makhalalo instead.
The owner, Ethel Arendse, viewed the body that had been given to Makhalalo's family in error and compared it to photographs she had of October, before confirming that it was her. The October family has also identified the body.
Stemmet said he had no other solution but to apply for a High Court order to exhume Makhalalo's body and hand it to her family for "a decent burial".
In court yesterday, Arendse agreed to pay for the exhumation while Stemmet agreed to fund the reburial of Makhalalo.
Stemmet said in his affidavit that he had already incurred costs in attempting to resolve the situation.
Before granting the exhumation order, Justice Siraj Desai asked Makhalalo's tearful son whether he understood that the process he would have to witness was an unpleasant one.
He said he was aware of the procedure and would be able to identify his mother's body.
Judge Desai wished both families well through their ordeals.
He did not make any order on costs.
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