| 1. | In terms of the Births and Deaths Registration Act, a certificate (Notification I Register of Death I Stillbirth - BI 1663) stating the cause of death, must be issued promptly where appropriate. |
| 2. | The Births and Deaths Registration Act states that: |
| (a) | Section 15(1) Where a medical practitioner is satisfied that the death of any person who was attended before his death by the medical practitioner was due to natural causes, he shall issue a prescribed certificate stating the cause of death. |
| (b) | Section 15(2) A medical practitioner who did not attend any person before his death but after the death of the person examined the corpse and is satisfied that the death was due to natural causes, may issue a prescribed certificate to that effect. |
| (c) | Section 15(3) If a medical practitioner is of the opinion that the death was due to other than natural causes, he shall not issue a certificate mentioned in subsection (1) or (2) and shall inform a police officer as to his opinion in that regard. |
| (d) | Section 17(1) After an investigation as to the circumstances of a death due to other than natural causes in terms of section 3 of the Inquests Act, 1959, the medical practitioner concerned shall, as soon as he is satisfied that the corpse concerned is no longer required for the purposes of an examination mentioned in the said section 3, issue a prescribed certificate to that effect and deliver it to the police officer concerned |
| (e) | Section 17(2) After the certificate referred to in subsection (1) has been issued, the police officer concerned,or any person contemplated in section 4, as the case may be, may, on the basis of the said certificate, complete the prescribed death register, without stating a cause of death, and the police officer concerned or the person contemplated in section 4, as the case may be, may issue the prescribed burial order authorising burial. |
| 3. | The Inquests Act, 58 of 1959, provides for the holding of inquests in cases of deaths due to other than natural (unnatural) causes. Sections 2 and 3 deals with the duty to report deaths and the investigation of the circumstances of certain deaths. The Inquests Act states: |
Any person who has reason to believe that any other person has died and that the death was due to other than natural causes, shall as soon as possible report accordingly to a policeman, unless he has reason to believe that a report has been or will be made by any other person.
Subject to the provisions of any other law providing for an investigation of the circumstances of any death, any policeman who has reason to believe that any person has died and that such a person has died from other than natural causes, shall
| (i) | Section 3(1)(a) investigate or cause to be investigated the circumstances of the death or alleged death. |
| (ii) | Section 3(1)(b) report or cause to be reported the death or alleged death to the magistrate of the district concerned, or to a person designated by the magistrate. |
If the body of the person who has allegedly died from other than natural causes is available, it shall be examined by the district surgeon or any other medical practitioner, who may, if he deems it necessary for the purpose of ascertaining with greater certainty the cause of death, make or cause to make an examination of any internal organ or any part or any of the contents of the body, or any other substance or thing.
For the purposes of any examination mentioned in subsection (2):
| • | Section 3(3)(a) any part or internal organ or any of the contents of a body may be removed there from. |
| • | Section 3(3)(b) a body or any part, internal organ, or any part of the contents of a body so removed there from may be removed to any place. |
A body which has already been interred may, with the permission of a magistrate or attorney-general within whose area of jurisdiction it has been interred, be disinterred for the purpose of any examination mentioned in subsection (2).
