”The funeral industry is not as clean as they pretend to be,” says Johan Rousseau, a founding member of the United Funeral Association of South Africa (Ufasa).
On Wednesday, the South African Council of Churches (SACC) and Ufasa called on the government to regulate the industry at the Funeral Indaba towards Regulation in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.
It also came to light that some funeral parlours charge exorbitant fees to bury people.
In one instance, steel caskets worth R2 500 were sold for between R25 000 and R50 000.
An Ufasa presentation handed out at the indaba said the South African funeral industry is ”neglected in all aspects”.
”We identified a need for an independent national body to involve all stakeholders,” it states.
Rousseau said: ”There needs to be a change in the funeral industry. If we don’t act now, we’re going to sit with big major problems in this area.”
The funeral industry is ”bigger than any boom that this country has seen because of HIV/Aids”, he said.
Fly-by-night parlours
A major problem tarnishing the image of the industry is fly-by-night funeral parlours.
”The dead are being dumped into graves like dogs. Sometimes three bodies are thrown into one grave. These facilities need to be shut down immediately,” Rousseau said.
Ufasa also called for the re-registration of all funeral parlours to ascertain whether they meet health standards.
In some cases, bodies have fallen out of coffins and hearses, according to reports.
”Some parlours are not practising ethically. Bodies have also been found placed in the wrong coffins,” he said.
Some funeral parlours are charging thousands of rands to register deaths. This is a service provided free of charge by the government, Rousseau said.
Funeral parlours should have proper drainage systems in their fridges, he said, questioning how fridges are being washed in the fly-by-night funeral parlours. There has to be a separate drainage and sewerage system installed to drain human waste and blood.
”Where does human waste and drainage do to? Typhoid is nothing compared to this. The local government needs to do more inspections and more control checks,” he said.
Undertakers do not earn a fantastic salary and that the industry has no benefits — ”no provident fund, no pension and no medical aid”, he added.
Racism
Another problem in the funeral industry is racism, said SACC spokesperson Reverend Jo Ndhlela, speaking on the ethics of funeral industry.
”This industry is still controlled by the white minority. We are politically free, not economically free. Transformation needs to take place. I will fight up till the end, even if I have to fight alone,” agreed Rousseau.
Ndhlela said some funeral parlours use separate burial facilities for black and white corpses.
”We understand there are fridges where only white people are kept. This can never be tolerated,” he said. ”On the other hand, black undertakers do not want to bury white people.
”Some parlours even have two offices in one town — one for blacks and one for whites.”
The SACC said it will confront the government to put measures in place speedily to reverse what could soon become a crisis.