The Malawian and Mozambican governments this week repatriated the bodies of victims of the George building tragedy in which 33 construction workers were killed.
Last week Sunday World reported that the families of the deceased who are immigrants from the SADC region, were frustrated by a lack of assistance from their respective foreign missions. Some even put out a call to fugitive Malawian pastor Shepherd Bushiri for help.
Malawi High Commission deputy high commissioner Panji Chirwa told Sunday World that their government repatriated the nine remaining bodies to Malawi for burial this week.
“We transported the bodies and 13 relatives to escort their loved ones to Malawi,” Chirwa said, thanking the South African government and funeral undertaker AVBOB for their assistance.
“As the families had no funds to repatriate their loved ones, we had to get involved as the government of Malawi to make sure that our brothers and sisters get repatriated home to be buried in dignity in their own country,” said Chirwa.
AVBOB’s representative, Gert Niehaus, said they assisted by providing coffins, storage for the bodies and embalming services.
Niehaus said there was only one body remaining at the mortuary. However, the deceased’s family from Lesotho was making final arrangements to bury the body.
Zimbabwean High Commission deputy high commissioner, Shepherd Gweri declined to comment.
Anton Bredell, Western Cape’s MEC of Local Government, Environmental Affairs, and Development Planning confirmed that 33 people were killed in the incident.
The George municipality said the site is classified as a crime scene and was handed over for a formal investigation by the South African Police Service who will hand it over to the Department of Labour and Employment for their investigation.
