Bereaved relatives confronted staff at an insurance company with the body of their loved one after the firm refused to pay out until they proved he was dead.

Ntombenhle Mhlongo and Thandaza Mtshali were filmed taking the body of uncle Sifiso Justice Mhlongo into a branch of Old Mutual somewhere in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa, this week after their claim on a funeral plan was delayed.

Ms Mhlongo said the claim, for £1,700, had been delayed for nine days because of problems over the paperwork, meaning important tribal rites for their uncle, who died at the age of just 46, could not be performed.

Ntombenhle Mhlongo and Thandaza Mtshali dragged the dead body of uncle Sifiso Justice Mhlongo into a branch of Old Mutual in South Africa after the firm refused to pay out a claim for funeral expenses, saying they needed more proof the man was dead

Mhlongo (left) and Mtshali (right) said the claim, for £1,700, had been delayed for nine days, preventing them from carrying out important tribal rites for Sifiso (pictured), after he passed away aged just 46

Ntombenhle told News 24: 'We are not rich people. We are poor and they were refusing to pay us. We are still so heartbroken.

'We kept going back but they kept stonewalling and we were angry, frustrated and just wanted to make sure we could properly prepare and bury him.

We thought if the documents do not give them enough answers then maybe the body will.'

Video, which began circulating on Tuesday this week, shows the women inside the bank with Sifiso's body inside a bag and laid out on the floor.

Witnesses told how horrified staff had watched the pair take body inside, having driven it to the branch from the morgue, where staff cooperated with the scheme.

Placing the corpse on the floor, the women handed over paperwork for the man's life insurance claim along with his ID and death certificate, local media reports.

Witnesses said the ladies told staff they would not leave the branch until Old Mutual paid out the death claim in full.

After hurried discussions between Old Mutual management and phone calls to head office, it was decided to agree to honour the insurance claim - as long as the ladies removed the dead body.

The witness said: 'As soon as the ladies were promised they would be paid they marched back inside the office and in front of the counter grabbed an end each and carried the corpse back out.

'Two men went to their aid and helped them manoeuvre the body bag into the boot of the car that they brought the body in and people were just watching open mouthed as all this was played out.

'The women said a loved one was inside the body bag and that bringing him to the Old Mutual office seemed to be the only way to prove their claim to them that he had actually passed away' he said.

A worker at the morgue where the body was kept said the woman were especially upset because the delay meant tribal rites weren't performed. Old Mutual have since apologised and said claim was paid the same day

One of the ladies is heard on the footage being asked why they brought the body from the mortuary and if they had been paid out and she replied: 'Yes. They paid just now. That's why we took the body in'.

Responding to the viral video on Twitter, Old Mutual said that the incident was 'most unsettling' and they insisted that they were 'sympathetic towards the family during this difficult time'.

The company went on to claim that 99 per cent of claims for funeral expenses are paid out within eight hours of all paperwork being received.

Old Mutual added: 'Due to the sensitive nature of this matter we will continue engaging directly with the family'.

The company insisted all claims were assessed on an individual basis and said that the incident at the branch was 'isolated and regrettable' and would be fully investigated to 'learn lessons'.

A spokesman for the National Funeral Practitioners Association of SA said that the matter was far from over and that the organisation would consider taking legal action against Old Mutual.

Spokesman Muzi Hlengwa said: 'When the body was taken from the mortuary to the Old Mutual it was out of anger so the rituals that were supposed to be done to move the body from one place to another were not done.

'The soul of that man is still left at the Old Mutual so they will have to cover the costs of performing these rituals'

It is believed the body was returned to the mortuary after the death benefit had been paid out.

Old Mutual is the oldest insurance company in South Africa having been established in 1845 and also has banking, investment and savings arms to its operation.

It employs 31,000 people and operates in 14 African countries, is listed on London and Johannesburg stock exchanges and has over 12 million customers on its books.