The funeral industry in South Africa seems to be shrouded in mystery — and now allegations of racism and corruption have surfaced.
The industry is, by its nature, a secretive one. What goes on in the morgue stays in the morgue — unless one is caught, such as the police officer who was found sodomising a corpse in the Salt River mortuary in Cape Town.
Another chilling story that could easily have come from a horror movie has a member of the cleaning staff at a mortuary in Nelspruit performing post-mortems.
Last month, about 50 undertakers gathered at the Parktonian hotel in Johannesburg to discuss way of regulating the industry.
There was not really any way to tell that all the men in the room were undertakers: some were dressed in jeans; others wore suits. However, all of them had strong opinions about regulating the industry.
At the conference, Johan Rousseau, founder of the United Funeral Association of South Africa (Ufasa), accused some funeral directors of racism.
“There are separate mortuary facilities for black and white corpses,” he said.
Rousseau said he believes the practice is widespread and happening “all over the show”.
“There is no organisation that looks after the staff of the funeral industry. I’ve got nothing to hide. I’m just interested in looking after the rights of people.”
In an e-mail sent to the Mail & Guardian Online weeks after the conference, Rousseau said: “The conference held was not to promote any person or association, or to discredit any company, but merely to inform and advise the public, industry and government of what was proposed and not disclosed to government.”
“It must be understood that Ufasa is the ‘new kid on the block’, who has done the research, has the support and solutions to various institutions. We do not wish to engage members with ‘skeletons’ … if it [a ‘skeleton’] is not disclosed, it will surely damage our reputation, vision and objectives.”
He adds that “all role players [in the funeral industry] are not unscrupulous operators, but the facts and reality of the initiative [Ufasa] started is to regulate the funeral and related services industry”.
Reverend Jo Ndhlela, spokesperson for the South African Council of Churches, said at the conference that 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 … On the other hand, black undertakers do not want to bury white people,” Ndhlela told the conference.
‘No equal job’
Peter Mpye, who worked for a funeral company in Springs until 1999, claims the company he worked for was racist.
“There is no equal job and equal pay in the funeral business. Whites are treated better than the blacks,” he says.
He adds that “no matter how good you are”, a black man would never conduct a white funeral, whereas a white man would conduct both black and white funerals.
Marius Cronje, a former employee of funeral parlours on the East Rand, also claims to have witnessed a lot of corruption in industry.
Although he’s been out of the industry for four years, he alleges it is as corrupt as ever.
“Big funeral [companies] budget for corruption,” he says.
Cronje alleges undertakers are buying bodies from government mortuaries, hospitals and old-age homes to achieve their company’s annual budget.
He claims to have witnessed undertakers waiting “like vultures” outside at a government hospital’s mortuary in Vanderbijlpark to purchase dead bodies.
Allegations ‘unsubstantiated’
The Funeral Federation of South Africa’s (FFSA) chairperson, Theo Rix, told the M&G Online that Ufasa is a “non-existent association” and that Rousseau is its only member. The FFSA acts as a regulatory body for the funeral industry.
Rix says Rousseau’s allegations of racism and corruption in the funeral industry are “hideous and unsubstantiated”.
“My staff mix is 52% non-white and 48% white. We have senior black people on our board of directors.”
If Rousseau knows of corruption or racism in the industry, “why doesn’t he report it and why doesn’t he mention names?” asked Rix.
He adds that if a member of the FFSA was practising any sort of racial discrimination among its staff, then its membership would be terminated immediately.
However, an undertaker from a funeral parlour in Nelspruit, who does not want to be named for fear of being victimised, says some of his colleagues earn R300 or R500 less than him because they are black — even though they perform the same duties that he does.
Drivers are also asked to perform duties of an undertaker, but “they don’t get paid to do it” he claimed.
Call for regulation
However, undertakers have called on the government to regulate the industry.
Rix says the FFSA sent a proposal to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) last year. He also says the federation has been in contact with various other government departments.
The consumer and corporate regulatory division (CCRD) in the DTI responded to the M&G Online in a statement and confirmed it had dealt with correspondence regarding regulation of the funeral industry.
“There were several issues raised and dealt with” regarding regulation of the industry, it said.
“The view of the department is that we do not have clear legislative competence over the issue, as the Constitution provides that cemeteries, funeral parlours and crematoria are an exclusive provincial competence.”
It stated that the issue of “excessive pricing” was referred to the Competition Commission, “as the agency responsible to investigate complaints of this nature”.
“A concern was raised about the state of hygiene of undertakers’ premises and the standards relating to the embalming of a corpse. The original author was advised that the Department of Health had issued regulations in this area.”
Another concern was the “insurance funds offered by funeral parlours [that] are not market related”.
“The original author was advised that the FSB [Financial Services Board] regulated the financial administration of all friendly societies, which includes the funeral industry. He was advised to seek assistance at the FSB. The department also forwarded the matter for the attention of the FSB.”
Lastly, the CCRD said it advised the author of the letter to the DTI that “allegations of unfair practices would be referred to the consumer investigations directorate for investigations”.