Woman traumatised by mother’s burial without her consent
ALEXANDRA - A woman is traumatised by the burial of her mother by strangers without her and family members’ presence and consent.
A woman was left traumatised after she discovered that her mother who had disappeared last year, had subsequently died and been buried without the family being notified.
Requesting anonymity, the woman, originally from 2nd Avenue Alexandra and now living in Thembisa, said her mother was last seen leaving her home carrying an overnight bag by a neighbour in November 2013. She was never seen again until the discovery of her death and burial miles away.
The daughter had gone looking for her mother only to find the house locked and neighbours saying they had no knowledge of her whereabouts.
She managed to track her mother’s movements through the social security agency and home affairs, and found out that she had passed away at Baragwanath Hospital in May 2014 and was buried in Ennerdale by an organisation that deals with HIV, aged people and orphaned children.
The daughter said the organisation, Ebenezer Hannah Home in Grasmere had confirmed burying her mother and claimed they had taken care of her until her passing after picking her up at Park Station. They also claimed that her mother had been raped.
She alleged that a member of the home accused her of neglecting her mother because her mother fell ill and died in their care. The distraught woman said her mother had stayed alone after her parents’ divorce and the death of her other sister. “She was a very private person and in good health when we last met,” she said.
“I still loved and looked up to her for guidance. The strangers who buried her acted un-African by laying her to rest, probably like a pauper,” she said. She claimed the organisation could have tracked her mother’s family through home affairs and the social security system, as she had done.
She said she was struggling to find closure without knowing what caused her mother’s disappearance and death, and was planning to invite relatives to visit and conduct the relevant rituals at her grave.
Founder of the home Shelly Merime confirmed that they had been in contact with the deceased’s daughter. She said the daughter’s mother had been referred to the home by a social worker who had declared the elderly woman an unknown person. “She was very ill, dirty and had no identification,” said Merime.
She expressed concern that it took the daughter almost a year to track her mother down. “She accused us of taking her mother’s policy money when all we did was to care for and give her a descent burial. We have been receiving referrals from the police and social workers for 24 years.”
