Corpses cost thousands

Specialised logistics
companies are charging
R10 000 and more to
transport bodies from
South Africa to Zimbabwe.
This excludes the cost of
embalming the body and
the coffin.
Up to 100 bodies a week
are processed through
Beitbridge.
According to research
on the Gwanda district,
“rather than burying
bodies in South Africa,
corpses are carried ‘home’
in expensive trailers
towed by four-wheel drive
vehicles.
“Given the relatively good
road network in South
Africa and Zimbabwe,
such spending on large,
specially hired vehicles
is largely unnecessary
from a purely functional
standpoint,” according to
the researchers.