THEY RECEIVED a call from the hospital saying their brother had died.
Saddened, the family went to the hospital to fetch his body.
But nothing could have prepared them for what they found.
When the Mateke family from Oribi Gorge in Pietermaritzburg, KZN Midlands, asked to see their brother’s body, they were shown the body of an Indian man!
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As if that wasn’t enough, they learned their brother Keketso’s body had been cremated by another family and his ashes were scattered in the sea!
The family doesn’t know what to do. They can’t give their beloved brother a dignified burial.
Sister Mary (43) said their ordeal started when Keketso (32) was admitted to Grey’s Hospital in Pietermaritzburg on 24 June.
He’d been injured at work.
“We got a call from the hospital informing us he’d died.
“We went to fetch his body from the hospital on 5 July, but mortuary workers refused to let us to see it.
“They said it’s not allowed because the person had died of Covid-19.
“We refused to take the body without viewing it. We didn’t know he’d tested positive for Covid-19.”
The family told the hospital Keketso had been admitted for injuries and not Covid-19.
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“We managed to convince them to allow us to view the body and almost fainted when we saw an old Indian man,” she said.
The hospital’s mortuary workers couldn’t say where Keketso’s body was.
“We later received a call informing us our brother’s body had been taken by the Maharaj family from Thornville. Chunderson Maharaj (84) had died of Covid-19.
“We were told the Maharajs cremated Keketso’s body and threw the ashes in the sea.
“This broke our hearts and we’re still in so much pain.”
They were confused and didn’t know what to do.
“My brother worked in a garden on a farm near Pietermaritzburg,” she said.
“He had one child: a three-month-old baby girl whom he hadn’t met because the baby mama lives in Lesotho.
“He’d have seen the baby soon had he been alive.”
Chunderson’s son, Ricky, was shocked when he got a call telling him they cremated the wrong body.
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“I was forced to fetch my father’s body and cremate it.” The hospital apologised.
“They gave me the Mateke’s contact details and we spoke.
“I’m willing to help them by taking them where I scattered the ashes.”
Cultural expert Jabulani Maphalala said the family should use umphafo (buffalo thorns) to fetch the spirit from where the deceased died.
“Take that spirit to where they’d have buried him,” said Maphalala
“They should explain the whole mess to their ancestors. They should hold a normal inhlambo (cleansing ritual).”
Daily Sun sent an inquiry to the health department on Friday, but there was no response.
