Post falsely claims 23 bodies were stolen from a South African mortuary over holidays

South Africa’s mortuaries are in crisis, with more than 3,000 unclaimed bodies across the country as of August 2024, according to health authorities. A post recently shared on Facebook claimed that 23 bodies were stolen from a mortuary in Barberton in the country’s northeast at Christmas. This is false; the image of an overcrowded mortuary used in the post was taken at a different facility in 2022. Local police also denied the claims.

“23 Dead bodies stolen In Barberton Mortuary (sic),” reads the beginning of a Facebook post published on December 29, 2024.

According to the post, which has been shared more than 2,000 times, the corpses disappeared with a pair of Nike Air Force 1 sneakers from a mortuary in Barberton over Christmas.

Mortuary staff “discovered” the purported theft after the holiday break, with CCTV footage supposedly showing the bodies being carried away in two Toyota Quantum minibuses, according to the claim.

Barberton is a town in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa.

The post includes an image taken inside a mortuary showing body bags stacked on shelves and several more on the floor.

Mortuary crisis

According to South African health officials, there were more than 3,000 unclaimed bodies in state mortuaries across the country as of August 2024 (archived here).

The problem was ascribed to various factors, including insufficient burial sites, difficulties in identifying foreign nationals and delays in collecting DNA samples.

The parliamentary health committee expressed concern with the statistics and the implications of unclaimed bodies for public health and the safety of mortuary personnel.

In February 2023, the South Africa Police Service (SAPS) investigated an isolated case of a desecrated grave and stolen corpse in Limpopo province (archived here).

However, the claim about bodies being stolen at a Barberton mortuary is false.

Unrelated image

To find the origin of the image used in the claim, AFP Fact Check conducted reverse image searches that led to a 2022 news report where it was featured.

South African news publication TimesLIVE published the image on July 27, 2022, reporting that it showed bodies lying on the floor at the overcrowded Phoenix forensic mortuary in Durban (archived here).

The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) in KwaZulu-Natal had at the time raised several concerns about the mortuary’s condition.

These included a lack of proper personal protective equipment for employees, no chemicals to disinfect the facility and control the odour, out-of-order fly-catchers and blocked drains in the autopsy room (archived here).

No stolen bodies

Police in Mpumalanga dismissed the claims of stolen bodies in a statement issued on December 31, 2024 (archived here).

“There has been rumours circulating about 23 dead bodies stolen at a mortuary in Barberton. The Office of the Provincial Commissioner of the SAPS in Mpumalanga would like to categorically state that these claims are false and have no basis in reality. There are no reports or incidents of bodies being stolen from any mortuary in Barberton or anywhere else in the province.”

Mpumalanga’s acting provincial police commissioner Major General Zeph Mkhwanazi cautioned the public against sharing unverified information on social media.

“Spreading false information can lead to unnecessary panic and fear in the community. We urge the public to report any suspicious activity or crimes to the SAPS so that we can investigate and take appropriate action.”