Claire Mawisa (@clairemawisa) is a South African television presenter, model and radio personality best known for being an SABC1 continuity presenter (1999-2001), as well as for co-hosting the SABC1 music variety show One, from 2002-2003. After many years working in radio and television, and opening her own business, Claire joined the Carte Blanche team in 2015.
I slowly walked past several dead bodies. At first, I tried not to look directly at them and then I remembered that that’s why I was there, to look at them. I tried not to bump into an outstretched arm that hung out from under a body bag. Further down the corridor, near another body, I leaned in close enough to look into a lifeless face and wanted to apologise to them because I felt slightly awkward that they lay naked in front of me.
I was warned about the smell but, surprisingly, that was not what bothered me most. It was wondering what had befallen these individuals that they had ended up here at the Johannesburg Mortuary.
It was surreal to be having normal conversation with the pathologist and my producer, all the while surrounded by dead bodies. I did not know how to behave, whether laughing at a joke was inappropriate or whether talking at all was even necessary. What was I even supposed to feel? I thought I’d be sad, scared or even traumatised. But I wasn’t. I felt like I had entered a sacred space. A space where only the qualified special few should enter. I couldn’t articulate it at that moment but I felt like an imposter, and I realise now that what I had felt was honour and privilege to be there.
The Johannesburg Mortuary in Hillbrow is where 3500 deceased people end up every year. They end up there because they have died due to unnatural causes such as accidents, suicides, homicides and other unexplained deaths. The people that work there try their level best to determine a cause of death, to bring closure to families and loved ones. This may involve an autopsy that examines the internal organs of the deceased, or an examination of the remains which may just be bones.
About ten percent of the bodies that end up at the mortuary are unidentified people that remain unclaimed. They may be local or foreign migrants, the mentally ill or even the homeless. Instead of just finding out the cause of death, a special team goes the extra mile to try and identify these nameless individuals. The identification unit comprises a team of people with diverse specialties. Together they pool their combined expertise to capture as much as they can about the deceased in order to identify who they are.
I was there to find out more about the men and women that worked there. And, just like any work environment, there were all types of characters and personalities. Why did I think that they would be any different? Upstairs in their offices they joked, laughed, made coffee and complained about the cold weather. However, downstairs, where they receive the dead, store them in fridges and in the autopsy rooms, I sensed a deep level of respect for each body they were handling. There was reverence for what was being done. It was an unspoken understanding they seemed to have with one another.
When I shared with people that I would be spending a couple of days at the mortuary, many insisted that I would need to go for counseling afterwards, or commented that I would be deeply disturbed after my experience. But I realised that, perhaps, their encounter with a mortuary was a deeply painful, personal one related to a loved one. My experience was not that at all. I am still struggling to find the words to accurately describe it all. It was in the way that everyone was quietly, methodically and diligently going about their duties that brought me some comfort. Knowing that when the time comes I may eventually end up in the hands of these individuals brings me a sense of peace.