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Esidimeni saga haunts parlour

The undertaker implicated in the alleged distribution of bodies of Life Esidimeni patients at parlours in Pretoria last year claims that his business has taken a knock from the saga.

Frans Phame Mthimunye, owner of Put U 2 Rest Funeral Services in Attridgeville, speaking through his lawyer Langutani N'wamba, said he had a contract with Precious Angels, one of the 27 NGOs that took in patients after their removal by the health department from Life Esidimeni.

Yesterday, Gauteng health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa said there were still 210 Esidimeni patients who have to be moved from the NGOs out of the 800 who had to be transferred within 45 days of the release of a damning health ombudsman's report on the matter.

The department admits failure to meet the deadline set in the report to transfer all the patients within 45 days but said it would do so by month end.

According to reports, Mthimunye's parlour was believed to have benefited financially from taking the bodies but struggled once they started piling up.

George Kotelo, another parlour owner in the area, told journalists that Mthimunye kept giving him more bodies without explaining where they were from.

N'wamba conceded that his client had a contract with Precious Angels to store bodies.

He said they had to use fingerprints and home affairs to trace their families.

"My client even contacted the health department to inform them that people were dying but they took time to take it seriously," said N'wamba.

He said Mthimunye's family has been under stress since the scandal broke.

He added that Precious Angels still owed his client around R30000 for the storage.

Precious Angels director Ethel Ncube refused to comment.

 

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