Thulamela Municipality, together with the management team from Tshilidzini Hospital, attended the mass funeral of paupers who were buried at Mbaleni Cemetery in Thohoyandou last Wednesday.
More than 20 unclaimed bodies were buried at Mbaleni Unit D after being in the government mortuary for more than three months. Four bodies were recognised to be from foreign countries, while 19 were under forensic investigation. According to the Thulamela Municipality all the paupers were adults.
Dr Mashango Mmbadi, a senior pastor from Louis Trichardt, encouraged the mourners at the funeral to live in the grace of God, because they do not know what the next day holds for them. "Mend your ways with God while there is still time, because you might end up like the people whom we are burying," said Dr Mmbadi.
Thulamela Mayor Mushoni Tshifhango said that the municipality decided to help bury the paupers. Most of the costs were covered by the Department of Health and the hospital. "We were helping them to bury the unidentified bodies with dignity, because we believe they are some of our own," said Tshifhango.
Thulamela's manager of special programmes, Mr Ntevheleni Nepfumbada, said that the municipality provided land for such people to be buried. "It is one of our mandates to bury the unidentified corpses in the hospital mortuary, because we are in partnership with the hospital. We bury paupers freely because they are not identified. People from the area pay for the burial at Mbaleni, because that is the land of the municipality. If the bodies are not claimed after one month to three months, we organise the mass funeral with the hospital to bury the bodies," said Nepfumbada.
Tshilidzini Hospital CEO Mr Mpho Mufamadi said that the issue of paupers affected the hospital because many sick people were not accounted for by their families. "When they die no one comes forward to claim their corpses," said Mufamadi.