PROBE INTO CAPE TOWN UNDERTAKER'S 'UNLAWFUL' BURIALS

Public Protector investigating heartbroken families' claims

- GENEVIEVE SERRA

TWELVE families are seeking justice after undertaker Petrus Booysen allegedly buried their loved ones as paupers instead of cremating them.

Their distressing plight is now under investigation by the Public Protector South Africa (PPSA), as they await confirmation of exhumations. Anita Momberg, a representative of the affected families, has shared their communication with the PPSA, calling for accountability in this heartbreaking case.

They are calling on the PPSA to investigate: The City of Cape Town's role in authorising and enabling the unlawful burials, the police's delays and failure to secure a court order for exhumations, despite repeated requests and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) handling of this matter and why the criminal case was struck off the roll.

In June the Cape Argus revealed that the families’ worst nightmare came true when the Magistrate at the Kuils River Magistrate's Court struck the matter off the roll provisionally, to allow vital evidence such as the Western Cape High Court application for exhumations and DNA testing to be submitted.

Booysen faced several charges of fraud.

It was a case that rocked Cape Town when the families broke their silence earlier this year, that their loved ones were not cremated but buried as paupers, allegedly by St Francis Funeral Home in Kraaifontein, and in one case the family has yet to find their 94-year-old mother’s remains.