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The National Education Health and Allied Workers’ Union [NEHAWU] condemns the transporting of corpses using an open trailer in Johannesburg this morning.

The corpses were being transported from the Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital to Olifantsvlei cemetery for pauper’s burials. The trailer lost one wheel while travelling on the M1 freeway leaving the bodies of the deceased basking in the sun while alternative transport was sort.

We blame this gruesome act on the outsourcing of key government functions to the private sector. The private undertaker tasked with transporting the bodies cut corners possibly to save costs and used an open trailer to transport the bodies. Corpses also deserved to be treated with respect and should be transported using a suitable form of transportation.

This further solidifies our call for the insourcing of all key government services to avoid such horrific incidents. Such incidents should prompt government to build its own internal capacity to undertake jobs without relegating it to uncaring service providers who are only preoccupied with maximizing profits even resorting to transporting corpses using an open trailer. Throughout the years it has been proven beyond reasonable doubt that outsourcing breeds corruption, wasteful expenditure, and they exploit workers.

As NEHAWU, we demand an immediate investigation by the Gauteng Health Department to ascertain as to why the bodies of the deceased were transported in this despicable fashion. The national union will intensify its calling for the end of outsourcing in all government departments.

Issued by NEHAWU