Tshilidzini Hospital CEO, Mr Magwedzha Mphaphuli, has appealed to communities to come to the hospital and identify bodies of their loved ones.

He was speaking during the funeral of 12 persons, whose next-of-kin could not be located. The bodies, some that have been lying at the Tshilidzini hospital mortuary since the beginning of the year, were buried as paupers during a mass funeral that at the Mbaleni municipality cemetery on Tuesday morning.

The funeral is a joint effort between the Thulamela Municipality and the Vhembe Funeral Practitioners Association, who felt the need to work together and give the deceased a dignified funeral.

Speaking at the funeral service, Mphaphuli said the large number of bodies lying unclaimed in the hospital mortuary now becoming a heavy burden to the hospital. He said the unknown bodies could also be of people who are from the surrounding communities, but could not be identified, because their next-of-kin never bother to look for them, even if they have been missing for months.

He also urged to those families who believe they might have a next-of-kin at the mortuary, but have no means of burying them, to please come and talk to the hospital. “We are a caring institution and we know there are challenges that families are facing when it comes to burying their loved ones to an extent that they would leave them at the mortuary.

The cemetery manager at Mbaleni, Mr Ailwei Mashapha, said the burial of unknown people is putting a big strain on the municipality. “We are mandated to service the community and burying people is not one of our tasks, but we could not let a situation prevail where our dead fill up mortuaries without anyone coming to claim them, we have to act responsibly and bury them,” he said.

Mashapha said they have buried more than 70 people at the cemetery as unknown people since 2006.