Mother (75) ‘buried like a dog’

Mother (75) ‘buried like a dog’ JEMIMA BEUKES



WINDHOEK

The devastated family of 75-year-old Julia Hishongwa-Waendama is accusing the health ministry of whisking away and burying their mother ‘like a dog’ and robbing them of the opportunity to mourn her properly, despite a negative Covid-19 result.

According to Julia’s daughter Albertina Waendama, the ministry said their mother tested positive, but they have yet to receive this test result.

A distraught Waendama said what is painful is that the remains of her mother - a respected elder - couldn’t enter the church because the ministry insisted she was Covid-19 positive.

According to her, her mother was a ‘healthy person’ who had no signs of Covid-19 and was in fact only taken to the hospital for a sore knee.

Waendama said she left her mother at hospital in high spirits to collect soup at home, only to receive a call from the hospital that she must hurry back.

She also added that she hasn’t tested positive for Covid-19 despite being in close contact with her mother and suffering from heart failure and having undergone a recent operation.

Shocked

“Even the nurse who was with my mother the last days was shocked that she died of corona. They gave us her passport but they refused to give the results. We asked them to do a second swab because we wanted to an independent test.”

Waendama added that they were told that the coffin wouldn’t be sealed while a second test result was pending; however, in their case, their mother’s coffin was sealed.

“It was already sealed with silicon. Very painful, silicon! At the burial, we did not even see her face. She wasn’t allowed to enter her house, her coffin was in the mahangu field near her house,” she said.

Waendama said she has been staying away from work for days because of the trauma caused by this experience.

“Even a dog you mourn, but the way they treated my mother… I couldn’t sleep and I even ended up in the intensive care unit,” she sobbed.

Questions sent to the health ministry remained unanswered.

jemima@namibiansun.com