South Africa - Report Unidentified Dead Body

Advertisement

Procedure

Apply In-Person:

1. To Report Unidentified Dead Body in person, the person concerned has to visit the nearest Office of Department of Home Affairs or South African Police Service members in case if there is no Office of Department of Home Affairs in the place where the death occurred.
2. The contact details of the Office of Department of Home Affairs for each province can be found in the following link: Link Click on the province name which is applicable to you and you will get the details according to that.
3. Visit the office and get the Form BI-1663 (Notification of death/still-birth)for notifying the occurred death. The application form can also be found in the following link: Link
4. Make sure that you have all the documents listed in “Required documents” section of this page. Now, complete the form as required and attest it with your signature.
5. Attach the required documents with the completed form and submit the application package to the concerned authority at the office.
6. Once you submit the required documents, your request will be processed to the relevant officials for further processes.
7. After all the necessary examination and verification of the submitted documents is over, the Department of Home Affairs will take necessary proceedings for the matter concerned.

Advertisement

Required Documents

• Completely filled Form BI-1663
• Copy of the mortal’s ID (if any)
• Copy of Informant’s Identity document
• Medical certificate indicating the cause of death (if required)

Office Locations & Contacts

Department of Home Affairs - Head Office
Physical Address : Hallmark Building,
230 Johannes Ramokhoase,
Pretoria,
Gauteng,
0001,
South Africa.
Postal Adress : Private Bag X114,
Pretoria,
0001,
Phone: 012 406 2500
Email: [email protected]
Website ,Link 2

Department Of Home Affairs Offices

Eligibility

• Any person who identified an anonymous dead body or have become a witness of an unidentified person’s death can apply.
• The person who reports the dead body should also possess a valid Identity document.

Fees

• Please approach the officials for fees details.
  

Validity

Explain the time until which the certificate/document is valid.
e.g. Birth Certificate Valid Forever

Documents to Use

• Form BI-1663 (Notification of death/still-birth): Link
  

Sample Documents

Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.

Processing Time

Please explain processing time taken in obtaining the document/certificate.

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications.
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type='website'>video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the '&' inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver,
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.gIn the following url 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M' Video ID is 'Y0US7oR_t3M'.

Instructions

• Contact the family doctor or hospital about getting the medical certificate of cause of death.

• Contact a funeral director to transport the deceased from the place of death (if death didn't occur at a hospital) to the nearest State Mortuary. The deceased will have to be formally identified at the mortuary before the body's released to the funeral director.

• When a medical practitioner is not available to complete this form, in rural areas for example, a traditional leader may complete the form.

Required Information

• Particulars of the deceased
• Particulars of the person who informs the death
• Identity Document number of the deceased

Need for the Document

• The Births and Deaths Registration Act requires that any person’s death inside the Republic of South Africa be registered or reported to the Department of Home Affairs or South African Police Services so that no crimes and offences are left unheard and also for the purpose of keep an account or maintain an official record.
  

Information which might help

Enter other informations which might help.

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

Please explain what are other uses of obtaining this document/certificate.
e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

External Links

Place some external links which might help.

Others

More information which might help people.