“After a long search for relatives of unknown bodies in the hospital mortuary, it was resolved that the 17 unidentified bodies had to be buried as paupers,” the spokesman for the Elim Hospital, Mr Avhatakali Marole, said during a pauper’s funeral that was held at the Tshikota Township last Thursday.

Marole said that the hospital tried tracing the relatives of the deceased, but with no luck. “The only option the hospital had, was to bury them as paupers, because there was no one who wanted to claim these people”.

He said most of the people are sometimes not claimed by their relatives because they do not have money to bury them. More than 100 unknown people are buried as paupers in the Vhembe District every year. According to the statistics, most of the unknown people buried are said to be illegal immigrants.

The acting mayor of Makhado Municipality, Cllr Lindiwe Lowane, said it was the responsibility of the government to bury those who did not have any relatives who could bury them, irrespective of where the person came from.

According to Marole, the unknown people buried had been lying in the hospital mortuary, unclaimed, for more than a year.

Pastor Richard Mafhali praised government for the good job they are doing of taking care of the unknown. “God says you must love your neighbour like you love yourself. One must also feel for other people. Government is doing a good job. If they were not doing this, we were going to have a serious problem as people would just die and not be taken care of, leaving them exposed to the elements, which will also be a problem in as far as health is concerned,” he said.