Ten months on, suspicious father refuses to bury his son
The body of Xao Xashe of Qangwa village in the North West District has been lying in the morgue for close to a year now because the family is bitterly divided over its burial.
According to the deceased’s uncle Xumae Xao (63), when Xao Xashe died in April last year, reportedly of Tuberculosis, he took him to a morgue in Gumare which is some 140km away.
He then came home to prepare for burial with the rest of the family. However, they were stopped on their tracks by the deceased's father, who is also the brother to Xumae.
“He told us that he does not believe that Xao Xashe died because of Tuberculosis, but that is what we were told by doctors. My stubborn brother is refusing to allow us to bury that child, he talks gibberish about doing investigations on his death,” Xumae told The Midweek Sun, saying they have no clue what his brother thinks really killed the son if it's not what the hospital said.
For months, he said, they have been asking him when he will conclude what he was doing but he is not talking to them, and gets angry every time they ask. The man is said to suspect negligence on the part of the hospital as the son reportedly was going to the hospital as a visiting patient, although he had been unwell for sometime. They were only told he died of TB after his death, but never before he died.
They now fear that the body of Xao Xashe is no longer at the morgue saying with the way his brother is acting, they would not be surprised to hear that the body got buried behind their backs.
Xumae said that together with the deceade's grandmother, they have tried to talk sense into the father’s head but he is not budging.
“Representatives of government came to us, worried about the situation, demanded answers, but he did not give them any,” Xumae said.
Asked if the family was paying for the morgue services, Xumae said only his brother knows, explaining further that he is working with one Eric Damo who was a distant family member and is the one at the forefront of the matter.
“It is hard to get hold of my brother, as you see his house over there is locked, he lives here, this is his home but he works in the farms and is hardly home, we do not have his phone contacts. Damo acts as the family spokesperson in the matter, he should be able to answer on his behalf,” Xumae explained.
When reached, Damo who had initially agreed to speak to this publication changed his mind saying the matter was sensitive and he sees no point in speaking to the media about family matters.
Meanwhile Director of Iphitlhe Funeral Parlour Magonamo Mmolainyane confirmed to still having the corpse of Xao Xashe.
“I can confirm that we do have his corpse but for security reasons I will not tell at which branch. We have branches in Gumare, Sehitwa, Shakawe and Maun,” Mmolainyane said.
He said he could not go say much as he is in business with the Xao family and it would be highly unethical to divulge confidential information.
“All I can confirm is that they are paying me well, I have no issues and they do not owe me anything. We sat down and reached an agreement, I understood what they were saying and we are still in talks,” he said.
Kgosi Oleyo Ledimo of Qangwa village said he has tried to speak to the family about burying Xao but failed.
“The father is refusing to bury him; we do not really understand his reasons, we did our best to speak to other family members but even today, the young man has not been buried,” Ledimo said. Kgosi went on to say their hands are tied; they are unable to force Xashe to bury his son if he does not want to. What baffles them though is that despite allegations that the father might be intending to sue the hospital, they have not heard of any court case or
anything suggesting this.
Gumare Hospital had not responded to a questionnaire sent to them on the matter at press time.