Family drags corpse to insurance company to prove he’s dead

Bereaved relatives confronted staff at an insurance company with the body of their loved one after the firm refused to pay out until they proved he was dead.

Ntombenhle Mhlongo and Thandaza Mtshali were filmed taking the body of uncle Sifiso Justice Mhlongo into a branch of Old Mutual somewhere in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa, this week after their claim on a funeral plan was delayed. 

Ms Mhlongo said the claim, for £1,700, had been delayed for nine days because of problems over the paperwork, meaning important tribal rites for their uncle, who died at the age of just 46, could not be performed.

Ntombenhle told News 24: 'We are not rich people. We are poor and they were refusing to pay us. We are still so heartbroken. 

'We kept going back but they kept stonewalling and we were angry, frustrated and just wanted to make sure we could properly prepare and bury him. 

We thought if the documents do not give them enough answers then maybe the body will.'

Video, which began circulating on Tuesday this week, shows the women inside the bank with Sifiso's body inside a bag and laid out on the floor.

Witnesses told how horrified staff had watched the pair take body inside, having driven it to the branch from the morgue, where staff cooperated with the scheme.

Placing the corpse on the floor, the women handed over paperwork for the man's life insurance claim along with his ID and death certificate, local media reports.

Witnesses said the ladies told staff they would not leave the branch until Old Mutual paid out the death claim in full.

After hurried discussions between Old Mutual management and phone calls to head office, it was decided to agree to honour the insurance claim - as long as the ladies removed the dead body.

The witness said: 'As soon as the ladies were promised they would be paid they marched back inside the office and in front of the counter grabbed an end each and carried the corpse back out.

'Two men went to their aid and helped them manoeuvre the body bag into the boot of the car that they brought the body in and people were just watching open mouthed as all this was played out.

'The women said a loved one was inside the body bag and that bringing him to the Old Mutual office seemed to be the only way to prove their claim to them that he had actually passed away' he said.

Source: Daily Mail

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