Body carried through mud after mortuary van gets stuck

A disturbing video circulating on Facebook has drawn outrage after showing relatives carrying the body of a loved one along a mud soaked road in a rural Limpopo village.

The footage was shared by Tzaneen Voice on Wednesday, 26 November 2025 and has renewed concerns about failing road infrastructure and poor service delivery in rural areas 31 years into democracy.

The video shows grieving family members including two women struggling through thick mud while carrying a corpse wrapped in a white cover. They can be heard speaking in Xitsonga as they navigate the muddy path. According to reports, the mortuary vehicle sent to collect the body became stuck on the muddy road after days of heavy rains that left several communities waterlogged.

With no equipment available to recover the vehicle, relatives joined the mortuary assistant and carried the body by hand to a safer area. Shocked residents watched as the group made its way through the mud. 

Tzaneen Voice reported that local leaders have called on the Greater Tzaneen Municipality to urgently repair damaged roads to prevent similar incidents, warning that such undignified situations must not happen again.

The video has sparked strong reactions online. One Facebook user wrote, “What is the name of the undertaker so we would walk far from them so in case it rains we will know they do not care about their customers.” 

Another said “I see people having criticisms about these people carrying the body to the car that has been stuck in the mud asking about the stretcher and saying that the undertaker is lazy to think guys desperate time calls for desperate measures. It is hard to watch but this is the reality of life.” A third user wrote “Limpopo gave them 2/3 majority.”