Durban - The body of a late Gauteng pastor, Siva Moodley, that has been lying for a year at a mortuary in Fourways, Johannesburg, may pose a health risk, according to inside sources.
The body of Siva Moodley has been lying at the Martins Funeral Home in Fourways since his death on August 15, 2021.
This was confirmed in an earlier report by POST.
POST spoke to Martin du Toit on Monday, manager of the funeral home, who confirmed that Moodley’s body was still at his mortuary.
While there is no standard rate as to how much mortuaries are prescribed to charge mourners to keep the bodies of the deceased, inside information from a mortuary in Johannesburg indicated that it may cost around R150 per day.
By that figure, it would have cost just under R55 000 to store the body since August last year.
It has also come to light that Moodley’s body may be a health risk, depending on the level of decomposition the body has reached.
A body that has to be kept for that long a period needs to be embalmed, according to inside sources.
When IOL reached out to Martin du Toit on Friday, he declined to comment, citing that the case was sub judice.
“Sorry, I cannot discuss or comment anything about Mr Siva Moodley as the case is at the High Court,” Du Toit said.
It is believed that Du Toit wants to have the body cremated or buried.
Julie Pillay, president of the National Funeral Practitioners Association of South Africa said they are working towards finding a set rate that mortuaries can charge to store a body.
“I can’t really say how much it costs on average to store a body because it differs. Right now we don’t have a standard rule in place. We are hoping to professionalise that in the next few months, and we hope that by early next year we will have rolled out a system where all funeral parlours charge more or less the same amount,” Pillay said.
IOL