---
title: "Watch – How Cape Town families found loved ones in paupers’ graves"
description: "Paupers’ graves are meant for the forgotten. But what happens when the people buried there were never forgotten at all? In Cape Town, an undertaker’s alleged fraud has exposed a failure of the systems meant to protect the dead – and devastated those left behind. Rebecca Davis explains."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "VIDEO"
author: "Rebecca Davis"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/rebeccadavis-2-2/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-03-15-watch-how-cape-town-families-found-loved-ones-in-paupers-graves/"
published: "2026-03-15T09:19:07"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 44
---

# Watch – How Cape Town families found loved ones in paupers’ graves

> Paupers’ graves are meant for the forgotten. But what happens when the people buried there were never forgotten at all? In Cape Town, an undertaker’s alleged fraud has exposed a failure of the systems meant to protect the dead – and devastated those left behind. Rebecca Davis explains.

By Rebecca Davis · Published 15 March 2026, 11:19 SAST

## Content

[YouTube video: "YouTube video"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC54SctEM0U)

Reporting by: Rebecca Davis
Edits & animations by: Joel Seboa
Filmed by: Joel Seboa
Produced by: Emilie Gambade
Creative lead: Malibongwe Tyilo 
Sub-edited by: Kevin Flynn

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