Two Grahamstown funeral parlour employees have alleged that the business's owner threatened to fire them if they refused to cut off a dead man's legs so his tall body could fit into a coffin.
Two Grahamstown funeral parlour employees have alleged that the business's owner threatened to fire them if they refused to cut off a dead man's legs so his tall body could fit into a coffin.
The owner of Siyakubonga Funeral Services in Grahamstown, Ronel Mostert, faces charges of violation of a corpse as a result of shocking allegations by the two former employees.
Siphamandla Dyasi and Mzwanele Klaas alleged that the incident took place in 2011, when they both worked at Siyakubonga Funeral Services.
Tasked with the already grim business of handling dead bodies, they told Grocott's Mail this week that they were shocked when their former employer asked them to cut off the legs of a man.
Making it harder for them was that they'd known the man while he was still alive.
Thamsanqa Tshali's body had been at the premises for about a week, they said, when Mostert asked Dyasi and Klaas to cut short the legs of the former Southwell resident.
Speaking to Grocott's Mail this week, Dyasi said it was on a Friday when they were trying to place Tshali's body into a coffin that they realised he was too tall for it.
When they told their former boss, they said, she asked them to cut the legs short so it could fit into the small coffin.
Dyasi said at first they refused to do what she'd asked. They said they'd ended up doing so after Mostert threatened to fire them "because there are many people out there looking for jobs".
Dyasi said they felt they had to obey the order to protect their jobs, but admitted they knew it was not the right thing to do.
"It was not an easy thing to do. We took a few moments before we finally did it, and every now and then I still get flashbacks about it," he said.
Dyasi said it was on a Friday, a day before Tshali, 34, was scheduled to be buried, when they cut off his legs. "She gave us the grinder and she left the room."
He told Grocott's Mail that the incident happened while the offices of Siyakubonga were still in Paradise Street.
The shocking discovery only came to light after Tshali's body was exhumed.
No one had noticed anything strange before his body was buried, but after one of the employees came clean about the stressful ordeal, Tshali's body was exhumed last year.
Dyasi now works at Titi Funerals on a part-time basis and he says it has been difficult to get another job.
Police spokesperson Captain Mali Govender confirmed that the men had brought allegations against Mostert. She said a case of violation of a corpse was under investigation. Govender said the body was exhumed after the men reported the matter to the police.
Mostert declined to comment on the allegations. She told Grocott's Mail that she would release her statement once the case has been finalised in court.
She is due to appear in the Grahamstown Magistrate's Court on 27 June.
