THE grieving Mtshali family members were desperate for their insurance money.
So they brought the body of their loved one, Justice Mtshali (46) from Madundube in KwaDukuza in northern KZN, into the Old Mutual office in KwaDukuza. A video of them has been circulating on social media.
READ: WATCH: ANGRY FAMILY TAKES DEAD BODY TO OLD MUTUAL OFFICE!
Thandaza Mtshali (30), who’s the dead man’s niece and policy holder, said they made the claim last Monday and the company promised to pay within 48 hours.
She said they went to the office’s last Thursday and again on Friday and they were still not paid.
That’s when they called the mortuary and told them to take the body to the insurance company’s offices.
“I told the company they can keep the body while we waited, but to my surprise, within 15 minutes my phone beeped that the money had been paid.”
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She said Mtshali was unemployed and had 38 kids, aged 23 and below, from a number of women. Thandaza said she’d been paying R232 per month to the company and the payout was R30 000. Mtshali died on 7 November at General Justice Gizenga Mpanza Regional Hospital after a short illness.
Thandaza said they’d slaughtered a goat to apologise for disrespecting the dead.
Chairman of the Funeral Industry Reformed Association, Johan Rousseau said: “If there was a funeral ombudsman it would not have been necessary for the family to take these desperate measures.”
Old Mutual tweeted: “We’d like to assure our customers that claims are assessed on an individual basis and the incident at this branch, while isolated, is regrettable.”
It said their claim had to undergo further assessments.
“We pay 99% of funeral claims within eight hours once all requirements are met.”
Old Mutual officials, Dumezulu Shiburi and Ursula van der Westhuizen, hadn’t responded to queries at the time of going to print.
