Durban - More than a year after the deadly April floods, a Durban family who were left devastated when they lost 10 relatives in the storm is still waiting to bury four of their loved ones due to a delay in DNA testing.
The Mdlalose family from the Pola Mission, near Inanda township, north of Durban, say they feel let down by the government.
The family lost 10 relatives and while they were able to bury six of them, the remaining relatives have yet to be positively identified through DNA tests in order to allow their burials. Since being recovered, the remains of the four have been kept at a government mortuary.
Among those the Mdlalose family are still waiting to bury are: Thobeka, 25, Kholeka, 18, Lusanda, 16, and six-year-old Manelisi.
The floods killed hundreds of people, while others remain missing. Key infrastructure was destroyed including roads and bridges as well as homes leaving, thousands of people destitute.
The family said the six relatives were laid to rest in the Sweetwaters area of Pietermaritzburg, and once the bodies of the four are released they will also bury them in the same area.
EThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda acknowledged the trauma that the family is feeling for not having been able to bury their relatives.
Addressing the media recently, on the progress made in rebuilding the infrastructure destroyed by the floods, the mayor acknowledged the pain of the Mdlalose family and undertook to engage with the provincial government to address the DNA testing delays.
Speaking to The Mercury recently, Wendiswa Mdlalose said the family were waiting as they could not move forward without laying to rest their loved ones.
“Our lives are in limbo. We cannot move on, we cannot do anything. It feels like life is standing still, we have not been able to do anything because we are still waiting to bury our loved ones we haven’t even been able to undergo a cleansing ceremony,” she said.
She recalled that on the day of the floods, she had been sleeping in a house next door to her family home and she watched in horror as it was washed away, along with her relatives.
She said she had the grim task of identifying those who had passed on and helped with the efforts to recover the four relatives that are yet to be buried.
“We know that it was them because they were found in the same area where we had found the others (6 that were buried), but when they were found, their bodies had decomposed which necessitated the need for DNA testing,” she added.
She said she was visited by officials last year and had expected the DNA results to be returned within the year.
“In May of last year, the government officials came and took samples from us and gave the impression that the testing would at most take three months, they left in May and we have not heard back from them since,” she said.
She expressed her disappointment at the slow pace from the government in releasing the remains.
“We thought that since it was a disaster, they would move much quicker, for instance there was a fire in one of the informal settlements recently, that was a disaster and if someone had perished there, there would have been an expectation for the government to move quicker but that has not been the case for us.
“We have been waiting all this time, it’s painful just to wait, we feel that we have been let down by the government through lies and empty promises,” she said.
She insisted that as far as she was aware, they were the only ones in her area that were still waiting to bury their loved ones because of delays in DNA testing.
“It’s been a year and it has been quiet, we were told to speak to the investigators, they (the investigators) told us that nothing has been done with regard to the DNA testing, so we are just waiting, we have no idea when this might even be resolved,” she added.
Speaking of the day she lost her relatives, she said the house above her family home had collapsed and the debris rolled down the hill and crashed into her home, destroying it.
On the possibility of her home being rebuilt, she said that last month government officials came to update her on the rebuilding process.
“They said they are still looking for land to rebuild, they did not issue any time frames on when this might happen, as things stand, we haven’t received any help from our government,” she concluded.
The KwaZulu-Natal police were contacted on Thursday for comment and again on Friday. They said they were sourcing responses and later on Friday requested more information, that information was sent yesterday. By the time of publication, they had not yet responded.
The eThekwini Municipality said late on Sunday night: “Officials made contact with the Mdlalose family. Unfortunately, DNA processing usually takes a while. In this case, Mdlalose family members have to be matched with 26 unclaimed bodies, which could take even longer.
“A social worker visited the family last week to offer psychosocial support and a follow up visit by a psychologist is planned for this week.”