Gauteng Premier should have stepped in early to alleviate mortuary crisis

15 June 2017

The Gauteng Provincial Government needs to be held accountable for its terrible mismanagement of the week-long strike at state mortuaries that has caused extreme trauma to families unable to bury their loved ones.

Amongst the heart-tending stories is that of Mrs Colleen Duister who has been trying to bury her 3-year-old daughter whose body has not been released from the Germiston mortuary.

I know of family from foreign countries who are in the country for a limited period of time trying to get the bodies of relatives for burial in their home country.

There has been extra anguish in the Muslim and Jewish communities who are required to bury bodies on the same day.

There has been poor contingency planning and failed efforts to provide security for pathologists trying to work on the bodies at the mortuaries.

The underlying cause of the strike by the pathology assistants has simmered on for more than 10 years following the transfer of the mortuaries in 2006 from the police to the Gauteng Health Department.

They claim that they are underpaid and doing work for which they are not qualified.

There have been various strikes over this issue, including in December last year.

Health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa has not impressed with her handling of this issue.

Gauteng Premier David Makhura should have stepped in at an early stage to coordinate efforts to provide security at the mortuaries, and resolve the dispute as soon as possible. His absence from this crisis is notable.

The delay in bringing in medical staff from the defence force means that the backlog of bodies will take a number of days to clear.

I hope that sense prevails and that order is soon restored in this very sensitive matter.

Issued by Jack Bloom, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Health, 15 June 2017