Funeral homes in smaller cities are being “looted” during extended power outages, while criminals use the cloak of darkness to kidnap funeral directors.
Elsabé Basilio, managing director of the National Funeral Directors Association of Southern Africa (NFDA), said that with prolonged load disconnection, perpetrators smash transformers, leaving backup batteries with alarms to run down.
“Then they steal electrical cables from the building, which allows access all weekend or all night,” he said. “They are targeting mortuary compressors, copper pipes, electrical cables, faucets [and] even lowering the devices”.
Aside from crime, the shedding of charges is also putting pressure on funeral homes. People are being asked to bury loved ones quickly to prevent bodies from decomposing, because keeping cold storage running during load shedding is expensive.
‘pointing at us
In December, Komani was without power for three weeks, Fort Beaufort for four days and Makhanda for two days, said Fred Drake, NFDA member for the Eastern Cape and Free State.
“What happens is that [criminals] they are robbing the substation and then the whole area is out for days waiting for parts to fix it. That’s when they [criminals] sign us up
A descent device costs around R47,000. “They sell it to a bush operator somewhere, who is not licensed or registered,” Drake said. “You can insure this item, but because it’s a mobile item, you have to pay an individual premium for that and that premium is astronomical, it’s unaffordable.”
Basilio said that in certain areas, health inspectors are forcing NFDA members to have extra backup generators.
“One of our members had to buy an additional nine generators, three of which have already been stolen during an extended load shedding. One was basically cut out of the wall or, in one case, so damaged that it will never work again.”
The local government will not issue a certificate of competency to this member’s facility when it needs to be renewed. In such cases, the company must obtain additional security, which is another expense.
Kidnappings on the rise
In some areas, the risk of kidnapping is increasing. “A funeral director will receive a call, during the load shedding, to remove the deceased from the place of death. When the funeral director arrives at the address, they kidnap him,” Basilio said.
Added Drake: “We are actually at a point where we have to hire private security to escort us to certain areas to search for the body of the deceased and that is an additional cost that, again, has a ripple effect on the consumers. ”
In September, its driver was kidnapped during power outages.
“They let him go with the vehicle because it was a well-marked vehicle but they left him in his underpants and a T-shirt. Nothing was left in the vehicle. The carts in which we do the collections, at R18,000 each, were gone. The insurance company won’t cover that.”
‘Bury your loved ones in four days’
This week, the South African Funeral Physicians Association (Safpa) urged people to bury their loved ones within four days of their death to ease the strain on funeral homes caused by the falling cargo.
“The shedding of loads has a ripple effect on the mourners,” Safpa said. “In addition to seeing their loved ones decay at an accelerated rate, they have to endure delays in the death certificate registration process in internal affairs. [department] due to load shedding. This forces families to postpone the burial to a later date.”
The intensified load shedding of the past year has seen many salons deal with “rapidly decomposing” bodies in their refrigerated rooms when the power goes out.
“Burying family members within four days or less is cost-effective and prevents families from seeing their deceased in a bad state of decomposition.”
The situation is a national crisis, said Safpa’s Simon Mapoulo. “Very soon, we will make a retreat and bury the next day.”
‘Funerals don’t happen overnight’
John Storom, president of the South African Funeral Federation, said: “In the African community, funerals don’t happen overnight. It takes about a week to have bodies in your cold storage and you have to make sure they don’t break down in the process.
But most families don’t have the resources to bury the bodies quickly. “They need time to be able to make insurance claims and raise the cash to do the burial. And when you’re in a community that’s not used to that kind of organizing, where the mourning period takes time, you’re literally interfering with that.”
expensive generators
By law, funeral homes must have generators on site, to keep storage rooms cool if the power goes out. Safpa said the price to buy and maintain the generators has become exorbitant and diesel to keep them running costs more than R21 per litre.
“Not all generators can power our refrigerators,” Mapoulo said. “We need a very large generator and they start at around R90,000 and up. Many of the smaller companies cannot afford it. The worst thing is that the government doesn’t even intend to come to the party.”
Storm agreed, saying: “What they [the government] What you don’t have to consider is that many of us are small businesses, where you can’t afford the right generator in the first place, and even if you did, what that means is your costs go up.”
Invariably, those costs are passed on to customers. “With the state of the economy as it is, when you raise prices, the community suffers. It’s a very difficult position that this puts us in.”
Dududu Magano, spokesman for the South African National Association of Funeral Professionals, said many small funeral directors now have to deal with the additional operating costs of diesel or petrol, which are usually not budgeted for. “Where do you get the budget to run a generator for 12 hours a day?”
Drake said that funerals on average take place nine days after death.
critical effect
Basilio said the cargo shedding is having a critical effect on funeral homes. “With 10 hours of load shedding per day, a small funeral home can cost between R2,500 and R5,000 per day in fuel or diesel for their generators. With bigger companies and bigger refrigeration facilities, the cost is higher.”
Certain funeral directors are equipped with inverters and UPS systems, at enormous cost.
“With expenses on the rise, the cost of funerals also increases, as do the premiums for funeral insurance products. This has a negative impact on the funeral director and the public. And, despite the load cuts, the municipal bill has not gone down either.
NFDA members who can afford it are taking steps to take their funeral homes off the national grid and supply their own electricity through solar power, inverters and UPS.
“However, in some regions, because there is no electricity, it influences the water supply, and this is crucial for our business.”
Drake said that in Port Elizabeth, on a typical Saturday, there can be anywhere from 30 to 80 funerals in progress in a cemetery.
“Now what’s happening is none of the robots are working to get to the graveyard, so you end up now in a 45-minute to two-hour queue to get there. Instead of finishing at 12, my staff leaves at 2 or 3 in the afternoon and now I have to pay overtime. So the ripple effect again goes back to the consumer.”
The outlook is bleak if the government does not intervene, Basilio said. “As funeral services are an essential service, the government may consider discounts on electricity for funeral homes.
“Small funeral homes will go out of business, resulting in job losses and lost income, while an increase in funeral costs and increased premiums for funeral products will place an additional financial burden on the public.”
