The family of 32-year-old Katlego Bereng, whose charred remains were discovered inside the prison cell of convicted rapist and murderer, Thabo Bester at the Mangaung Correctional Centre, has laid criminal charges against G4S and the Health Department.
The family says the department mishandled Bereng’s remains and released it to someone not related to him.
They want the department to provide a paper trail from the point Bereng arrived at National Hospital in Bloemfontein.
The family of Katlego Mpholo and Bereng have more questions than answers. Now they want the Department of Health together with the Department of Correctional Services as well as G4S management, to come with a clear account of how Katlego Bereng’s body ended up in Cell 35 of the Mangaung private prison.
The family accompanied by ActionSA in the Free State, have laid charges against the Department of Health for mishandling Bereng’s remains.
Together they say it has become clear that protocol to release a body was not followed. Bereng’s father, Batho Mpholo says the discovery that his remains were used in the prison escape has not brought them any relief.
“We need answers around those things because they don’t make sense to the family. Yes we were told the remains were positively identified, but that does not mean it brings closure to the family. You know it just now opening wounds, opening more questions, even though we didn’t want to end up where we are today. But really it is our constitutional right as citizen of this country to get the service from the government.”
Leader of ActionSA in the Free State, Patricia Kopane says there are procedures that were skipped when Bereng’s remains were released.
Kopane says conflicting reports from police have also baffled them.
“According to the National Health Act Number 61 of 2003, when the body is in the mortuary and it’s supposed to be released. It can only be released when the family, any member of the family they have knowledge, they have consent and whoever is taking the body must have proof, the positive documents that this is my husband, this is my marriage certificate this is the ID number of my husband. So, we want that documentation. But we were told Dr Nandipha managed to get the corpse.”
Police confirmed Bereng’s identity after DNA tests revealed a direct match with his mother Monica Matsie. Nevertheless when the family went to a government mortuary for a body identification they said they were told by the police that there was a misunderstanding on the identification of the body set for Monday.
