South Africans were left in shock and fear after a vehicle with a trailer transporting 42 dead bodies broke down on a busy highway, bringing traffic to a standstill and officials pointing hands at each other.
The vehicle with a trailer transporting 42 dead bodies from Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital to Olifantsvlei cemetery for pauper’s burials lost one of its wheels and broke down on a busy Johannesburg freeway on Wednesday morning.
The National Education Health and Allied Workers’ Union has condemned the horrific incident of transporting corpses using an open trailer in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
Nehawu blames government’s outsourcing of private companies and cutting costs.
“We blame this gruesome act on the outsourcing of key government functions to the private sector,” Nehawu said in a statement.
“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.”
The union said the incident further solidifies their 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,” the union said.
“Throughout the years it has been proven beyond reasonable doubt that outsourcing breeds corruption, wasteful expenditure, and they exploit workers.”
The Gauteng Department of Health said it regrets the incident and will launch an investigation to establish why the bodies were transported in an open trailer.
Picture credit: eNCA
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