By Neo Kolane
With reports pointing to a sudden spike in Covid-19 related deaths since the onset of the second wave of the pandemic, the capacity of mortuaries and funeral parlours to accommodate huge numbers of corpses has come under the spotlight.
theReporter approached Alicia Motṧoane, the CEO of one of the local funeral undertakers Sentebale Gap Funeral Services, who confirmed reports that South African mortuaries are full.
Motṧoane said her company gets supplies from South Africa, and her suppliers have notified her that they have run out of materials.
“We still have caskets but we will cross that bridge when we get to it, that is when we run out of caskets and coffins. As Sentebale, we are prepared for any eventuality; we are ready for any increase in the number of corpses.
“We have five branches in the country. We bury people with Covid-19 every weekend,” Alicia told this publication.”
On the other hand, the operations manager of Lesotho Funeral Services Benny Molapo, says unlike other funeral parlours, they are not worried about running out of supplies.
“We have 27 branches of Lesotho Funeral Services in the country, so we have enough mortuaries to accommodate Covid-19 corpses,” Molapo said.
