The City of Johannesburg on Thursday conducted a funeral service for 42 unknown and unclaimed bodies at the Eldorado Park cemetery.

These are the bodies which were being carried on a trailer when a vehicle pulling it was involved in an accident on the M1 South highway.

The city said its environmental health officials accompanied the procession to the cemetery and gave proper advice and ensured that regulations on how human remains are handled and buried were followed to the letter.

The burials follow last week’s unfortunate incident where a trailer which was transporting the deceased for pauper burials broke down in the middle of the M1 South Highway.

According to the National Health Act 2003 (Act No 61 of 2003) on the management of human remains‚ local government has a responsibility to issue environmental health certificates to all mortuaries and undertakers in their jurisdiction and also give an oversight responsibility to monitor the handling and burial of the deceased at local cemeteries.

Health and social development MMC Mpho Phalatse has instructed the directors in environmental health services to investigate the gaps that might have contributed to last week’s incident.

Phalatse said: “The City of Johannesburg is quite pleased to see corrective measures on the part of Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital. The City’s Environmental Health Division will release a draft Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) tomorrow for stakeholders to engage with‚ and the process will culminate in a final SOP and ultimately a bylaw. This will address gaps in the regulations and strengthen the City’s oversight function.”