Preneshan Govender.
Image: Supplied
AFTER a week of distress, Preneshan Govender's family received confirmation this morning that his body would return to South Africa following a bureaucratic error in Iraq.
Preneshan’s body will leave Iraq tomorrow and his funeral is expected to take place on Saturday.
The father of two died suddenly from pneumonia just two weeks into his dream job.
On February 7, Govender started work as a material manager at Crescent Petroleum in Iraq. On February 23, his family, from Metcalfe, in Tongaat, was alerted to his death.
Desiree Govender, his wife of 12 years, said their woes started after an administrative bungle on her husband’s death certificate. An incorrect name was captured on his death certificate by authorities in Iraq, Govender said.
She said before this job, he had worked at the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station in Cape Town.
Govender said she had spoken to her husband in the week of his death, when he had taken ill with the flu.
“He had the flu for three days. I spoke to him on February 23 and he sounded fine to me. He told me that he was okay except for a sore throat,” she added.
“However, five hours after we had spoken, his employer called my mother-in-law to say Preneshan had passed away.
“She then informed me. The company could not reach me because of the poor network in our area. We had no idea that he was so sick and the news of his death shocked us all,” said Govender.
“Preneshan had travelled extensively for work over the years. We normally prepare ourselves emotionally when he goes to countries in the Middle East – like Iraq – because of the turmoil there. We never expected him to die like this. He had no underlying medical conditions,” she said.
“We are not sure if the company he was employed at or the hospital was responsible for the incorrect name on his death certificate. But because of this bungle, the South African Embassy, in Jordan, said they could not accept the body to send it back to South Africa. They said the death certificate did not match the ID” she said.
Govender said they had been told by authorities that Preneshan’s name had been translated into Arabic. “At the translation, the name on his death certificate appears as George Govinder.
We asked the authorities and company to please correct it. Unfortunately, they got it wrong again. “In the second correction, the name became Preneshan George Govender.”
She said his company had corrected the name on the death certificate and told her that Preneshan’s body would be returned home.
The couple have two sons, Preeyen, 11 and Preelyn, 6.
“My youngest son is autistic and doesn’t know what is going on. He just goes to his dad’s closet and hugs his clothes. He was very close to his dad. My eldest son is trying to be strong for me.”
She said Preneshan was due to return home in March for his birthday and their 13th wedding anniversary
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