Police are exhuming the remains of an estimated 40 people who were secretly buried in a pauper’s grave in the Mookgophong cemetery in Limpopo.
The remains were buried in two separate graves without coffins, allegedly by a funeral parlour contracted by the provincial health department.
Police and forensic officials from the Health Department are working together to exhume the remains of about 40 unclaimed bodies that were buried without proper procedures.
They were buried without caskets in large numbers in two separate graves.
The exhumation work started on Monday with an expectation of being completed on Friday.
Health authorities are investigating the incident.
Entry to the cemetery has been prohibited.
“Firstly, we want to clarify that the individuals were indeed declared paupers. In such cases, the municipality is normally responsible for the burial. However, due to the municipality facing its own challenges at the time, we had to intervene and secure a service provider to conduct the burials. Our storage facilities were under immense pressure — imagine having 40 unclaimed bodies in our mortuaries. As for the allegation of a mass burial, we have launched an investigation into the matter,” says Limpopo Health Department spokesperson Neil Shikwambana.
