Mum: They won't let me view my daughter’s body!

MUM desperately needs help to find her daughter's body.

The Eastern Cape mum is asking for help after she was allegedly denied her daughter's body by Butterworth forensic pathology services.

Mum takes to social media

In a video, which was posted on social media, Busisiwe Mvimbani claimed she was denied the right to identify her daughter's body.

She said her daughter, Happy, had been missing since 2022.

"I looked for her all over and it has been a painful experience. Now that I found a lead, I've been denied access to view her body," she claimed.

Busisiwe believes her daughter's body might have been mixed up with someone else's.

She said:

"I was denied by one of the forensic officers to view one of the bodies I suspect could be that of my child. This is painful for me as a mother."

Daughter's body not at the mortuary

Health head of department Dr Rolene Wagner said they sympathise with Busisiwe as she has been looking for her missing daughter since 2022.

"We would like for the family to have closure over their loved one. The family opened a case in 2022 and cops indicated they collected bodies from various scenes that could possibly meet the description of the missing daughter.

"They liaised with our forensic pathology service in Butterworth and brought Busisiwe to view these bodies on two occasions during 2022 - 28 April and 13 May," said Wagner.

But sadly, none of these bodies were Busisiwe's daughter.

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Mum refuses to give up

Wagner said Busisiwe returned to the unit in 2023 saying she was convinced her child is at the mortuary.

"The bodies were frozen. We followed the procedure to defrost them and the process of viewing the bodies was conducted. Again, Busisiwe indicated that none of the bodies in storage was that of her missing daughter," said Wagner.

She said Busisiwe once more returned to their services at the end of 2024 with the firm belief that her daughter's body must be there.

"The department made arrangements, as directed by the MEC, for Busisiwe to view the bodies again and following the defrosting of the bodies, and Busisiwe was showed the bodies again on Monday, 13 January," she said.

She added:

"In addition to the viewing, DNA samples were taken from Busisiwe and will be tested against the two bodies from Willowvale. This is done in collaboration with the police, who will share the results directly with Busisiwe as soon as they are available."

In addition, Wagner said it does appear there is basis to the allegation that the bodies have been switched.

"We have offered Busisiwe counselling services to help her manage her distress and grief at not finding her missing daughter yet," she said.

Wagner added that the alleged poor interaction between Busisiwe and one of the forensic pathology officers is the subject of an internal investigation.