The Dlalisa family have had to postpone the unveiling of five tombstones because their service provider did not deliver on his promise.

The Dlalisa family have had to postpone the unveiling of five tombstones because their service provider did not deliver on his promise.

The family, from Sgodiphola in Soweto, claims to have paid R10000 in May to Derrick Oberholzer of Tombstone Land after he undertook to erect the stones within two weeks.

Based on this assurance, the family invited guests, bought a cow and prepared umqombothi. But, they were forced to cancel the unveiling at the last minute.

"By Thursday, the company had not laid one of the stones. Two have no heads, the inscriptions on the other two are unreadable and the fifth one is so small you could mistake it for a baby's," Hilton Dlalisa said.

He decided to cancel the contract and claim his money back, but Oberholzer offered to refund him a paltry R1000, Dlalisa said.

Oberholzer, from Groblersdal in Mpumalanga, said he had sub-contracted a company in Johannesburg to erect the stones and was not aware of the problems the family was facing.

He offered to rectify the shoddy workmanship and erect one of the stones for free.

Oberholzer said that the R1000 was the compensation for the damage the family had suffered.

But when Sowetan visited the graves and the family early this week, no alterations had been made and no compensation had been paid.

Now the Dlalisa's have had to employ another company to replace the stones for an additional further fee.

The Gauteng Office of Consumer Affairs will consider the matter.

Oberholzer was not available for further comment.