Family fight to get KZN woman's body back from Bahamas

Diplomats from SA are assisting a Durban family with their efforts to repatriate the body of a woman who died of illness in the Bahamas.

Sowetan/SundayWorld reports that Buhle Bhengu, 30, from Umlazi in KwaZulu-Natal, died a month ago while she was working on a cruise ship. Authorities there are reluctant to release her body, claiming that she died from TB.

Minister of international relations and cooperation Lindiwe Sisulu has received a report from a diplomat in the region, Lumka Yengeni, "on all circumstances and engagements" involving Bhengu's death, the department said in a statement at the weekend.

Yengeni "has been engaging with the Bahamas' authorities and other relevant parties to determine a way to meet the request of the family regarding the return of her mortal remains back to SA," said Sisulu's team.

Communication with the authorities in the Bahamas was ongoing.

Sisulu said she had directed Yengeni "to prioritise this matter and continue to engage with all relevant authorities to meet the requests of the family, noting the constraints of the health regulations of the Bahamas and all affected countries".

Buhle's brother, Thobani Bhengu, appealed for help in a voice note sent from the Bahamas.

"We are determined to fight to bring back her body and make sure that she is buried and treated the way she deserves. The funeral home (in the Bahamas) wants to cremate her but they won’t allow us to see her body. How can we know that [it] is Buhle? The person that we came here for?" he asked.

A petition titled #BringBuhleHome states the cremation is scheduled for Tuesday, March 12. Njabulo Cele said the SA high commission in Jamaica, assisting the Bhengu family, has written to the funeral home asking them not to go ahead with the cremation, "but still the family members who are in the Bahamas have been told that the scheduled cremation will go ahead". 

In a Sunday morning update, Cele said a SA government official was expected to arrive in Nassau-Bahamas, "to be with the family members of Nobuhle as they continue to fight for the repatriation of her body".

"... One of the many reasons that they have used in refusal to release the body is that the countries they have relations with will not accept the body to pass through their borders as they suddenly claim that it is infectious (due to the TB diagnosis).

"The SA government has ... since undergone their own negotiations with countries that have a working relationship with the country to find a way to have Buhle transported home. We welcome these (interventions) in our quest to see the Bhengu family get the closure they need and deserve."

Cele said the family had reiterated their opposition to cremation. "We would like to put it on record that the family has not agreed to such and will not agree to such, as their priority it to get Buhle back home."