South Africa: Bodies Pile Up As Ekurhuleni Delays Funerals for Poor Families

17 July 2025
Scrolla (Johannesburg)
By Doreen Mokgolo
  • The City's contracts for free funerals expired on 30 June, but new service providers will only be appointed months later.
  • Families say they are desperate and helpless, while funeral homes say they've been ordered to stop collecting bodies.

Grieving families in Ekurhuleni are stuck with nowhere to turn after the City failed to renew contracts for free government-funded funerals.

Now, the bodies of poor and unemployed residents, as well as unidentified people, are piling up in government mortuaries with no burial plans in place.

The City had three-year contracts with two funeral service providers to carry out burials for families who couldn't afford funerals. These contracts ended on 30 June, but the City only advertised for new providers on 10 July. Applications close on 6 August, and it could take another month or two to appoint winners.

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In the meantime, families are left stranded.

Lucky Radebe from Tsakani said his eight-month-old nephew Vusi died over a month ago at Pholosong Hospital. "We are all unemployed and can't afford his burial. We've asked for help everywhere, but still no one has come through," he said.

Another family had to rely on a kind-hearted citizen to bury a loved one after three weeks of pleading for help.

Sibusiso Mdaweni, who ran one of the two funeral companies, said they were told by the City to stop collecting bodies and to clear out their storage once the contract ended.

"We used to do 10 burials a week. Now hospitals and families are calling us in desperation, but we can't help them anymore," he said.

City spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said the responsibility lies with the Gauteng Department of Health. But he also said the City has taken a decision to arrange temporary, month-to-month burials until the new contract is finalised.

However, a source from the Department of Health's forensic unit told Scrolla.Africa that their job is to store the bodies, not arrange burials.

"We wait for municipalities to appoint undertakers. Until then, the bodies just stay in our storage," the source said.

Read the original article on Scrolla.

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