Richard Jones died on 31 August 2025. His mother, Marina Fortune, says she is still waiting for his ashes nearly a year later.
Image: Supplied
A Cape Town mother said she has been left unable to properly mourn her son after waiting almost a year for his ashes, despite paying thousands of rand for funeral and cremation arrangements.
Marina Fortune’s son, Richard Jones, 37, died on August 31, 2025.
Almost a year later, Fortune said she is still waiting for answers from Hartnick’s Funeral Home about her son’s ashes and has repeatedly had to initiate contact with the funeral home herself.
Fortune told the Cape Argus that she dealt with a woman known as Linda when making the arrangements following her son’s death.
Marina Fortune holds a receipt she says relates to funeral and cremation arrangements for her son, Richard Jones.
Image: Supplied
She said that on the day she arranged the funeral, she was told she first had to pay R500 to secure the crematorium before further arrangements could be made.
“The day that I made the funeral arrangements, I first had to pay the R500 for the crematorium before she would make the further arrangements,” Fortune said.
She later paid a further R7 500, bringing the amount she says she paid to R8 000.
However, Fortune said her concerns began about a month later when Richard’s ashes had still not been handed over to the family.
She said she contacted the funeral home to ask when she could collect the ashes and was initially told she needed to wait.
What followed, she claimed, were months of her repeatedly having to follow up.
“She never contacted me. I had to ask every time when I was going to get the ashes,” Fortune said.
During one of her follow-ups, Fortune said she was told that the paperwork had been completed incorrectly.
According to Fortune, Linda told her she would attend to the paperwork that same day and correct the problem.
Fortune said she subsequently heard nothing further.
On May 13, she again raised the matter, but months later the family remained without Richard’s ashes.
“I feel something is not right because why must I wait almost a year for his ashes? She doesn’t contact me. I must each time ask when I am going to get the ashes,” Fortune said.
For the grieving mother, she said the matter had long stopped being about the money she paid.
“It’s not even about the money anymore. It’s about my son resting, me having peace that he was buried in a dignified way. That’s what it is,” she said.
“I can’t even close this chapter in my life. I couldn’t say goodbye to him and scatter his ashes like he wanted.”
The prolonged wait has also left the family seeking clarity about what happened after Richard’s funeral arrangements were made.
The Cape Argus approached Linda from Hartnick's Funeral Home for comment and sought clarity on whether Richard had been cremated, where his remains had been stored during the process and, if the cremation had not yet taken place, when it would take place.
Questions were also put to the funeral home regarding a conversation Fortune said she had about a procedure involving the preservation of Richard’s body, including what the procedure entailed.
The Cape Argus further asked what safeguards and identification processes were followed to ensure that ashes handed over following a cremation could be positively linked to the correct deceased person.
The funeral home was also asked to explain the alleged paperwork error and why the family had been waiting for almost a year.
Linda initially communicated with the Cape Argus and asked that the story be held until Friday, September 4, indicating that the family would receive Richard’s ashes by then.
The Cape Argus requested that this commitment, as well as an explanation for the delay, be placed on record.
However, further attempts to reach Linda on Thursday were unsuccessful.
A man identified as her brother later answered the phone, but no response to the questions was provided by the time of publication.
The undertaking that the family would receive the ashes by next Friday will now be closely watched by Fortune, who said that after months of unanswered questions, she wants nothing more than the opportunity to finally lay her son to rest in the way he had wanted.
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