1173 unidentified bodies in Gauteng

11 March 2021 

Gauteng state mortuaries had 1173 unidentified bodies last year, and a further 120 bodies that were identified but were buried as paupers as they were unclaimed.

This is revealed by Gauteng Health MEC NomathembaMokgethi in a written reply to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature.

According to Mokgethi, there is an increase every year in dead bodies handled by Gauteng Forensic Pathology Services. 

Last year there were 18 324 bodies stored in the 11 state mortuaries in Gauteng, compared to 17 940 in 2019.

These state mortuaries are only for unnatural deaths that need a post-mortem for investigation purposes.

The Germiston mortuary had 400 unidentified bodies last year, followed by the Johannesburg mortuary (169), Diepkloof (103), Sebokeng (131) and Pretoria (117).

Whereas in 2019 there were only 18 identified bodies that were unclaimed, this jumped to 120 unclaimed bodies in 2020 that had to be buried in pauper graves. This is probably because of the economic hardship of the pandemic lockdowns, so families were unable to afford to bury their loved ones, which is very sad.

I am disappointed that the internet identification site that was first promised in 2006 is still not running.

Mokgethi says that the Department of eGovernance has started to hand over an internet identification system, and it is being evaluated and tested.

I hope that it is implemented soon as it would assist relatives in identifying bodies by using the internet rather than traumatic and time-consuming visits to mortuaries. 

Issued back Jack Bloom, DA Gauteng Shadow Health MEC, 11 March 2021