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This story first appeared in the print version of the magazine
When her pastor and the undertaker who had overseen her late husband’s funeral arrived at her doorstep, Nomsa Noda simply thought they were coming to check up on her. Nomsa (67), a retired nurse, had lost her husband, Michael Vukile Noda (70) on 22 June and buried him a few days later. Relatives, including their daughter Zuziwe Noda – a teacher in Rustenburg – travelled from across the country to attend the funeral in Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape, and the service was streamed to mourners who couldn’t attend the funeral.
But the grieving widow was stunned when she heard what Pastor Siphiwe Mangena and undertaker Zwayi Nyiki had to say – the person she had buried wasn’t her beloved husband. “They refused to allow me to view my husband’s body at the hospital mortuary due to Covid-19 regulations. Now I buried the wrong person,” Nomsa tells DRUM.
