Relatives bring family member's CORPSE into insurance firm's office after the company demanded they prove he was 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. 

'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.'