The cost of dying is going up for eThekwini residents when a price hike for cremations at municipal facilities takes effect.
|||Durban - The cost of dying is going up for eThekwini residents from next month, when a 5 percent price hike for cremations at municipal facilities takes effect.
The eThekwini Municipality has cited escalating gas, electricity and maintenance costs for the move, which has been criticised by funeral directors, who say it will put added pressure on cash-strapped families.
Burial space in the region remains scarce, and non-existent at city cemeteries.
The fee increase will come into effect from June 1 at Clare Estate Crematorium and on July 1 at municipal crematoriums in Mobeni Heights, Stellawood, Tongaat and Verulam.
Thembinkosi Ngcobo, head of the municipality’s parks, recreation and culture department, said the annual increase had been the subject of public consultation before it was approved.
However, the chairman of the KwaZulu-Natal Funeral Directors Association, Logan Chetty, said it had not been informed of the price hike at Clare Estate Crematorium.
Battling
The last price hike at Clare Estate was last March.
Chetty said: “People are battling to put food on the table. This increase is going to hurt the poorer communities the most. It is too high.
“In fact, at the rate of the increases it won’t be long before only the rich will be able to afford this facility.”
He said it was upsetting that the price hike decision was taken without any consultation with funeral directors.
“The reality is that this is a very popular crematorium. Unfortunately there is very little we can do or say.
“If people want to utilise the service, they are going to have to dig deeper into their pockets.”
Grieving families will have to fork out almost R300 more in total for a cremation at Clare Estate Crematorium, the burning of a coffin and the use of the hall.
Crematorium manager Daya Moodley confirmed the price increase.
“We don’t just up the prices whenever we feel like,” he said. “All our financial records are independently audited. Sometimes we come up in the red and the only way out is to increase the prices to meet the rising costs.”
He said the crematorium’s gas bill was between R100 000 and R125 000 a month, while water and electricity costs averaged R20 000 a month.
“We have the salaries of seven staff to pay. There are also maintenance costs. Most months we need around R200 000 to meet our expenses,” Moodley said, adding they did not receive government funding.
“This facility is 109 years old. The only funding we ever got was four years ago from the eThekwini Municipality. It was a once-off grant for R40 000.”
He said the Divine Life Society had also assisted to refurbish the five furnaces.
“People are very quick to point fingers at an honest organisation like ours. But they do not realise the costs behind keeping this operation up and running.”
Moodley described the facilities at the crematorium as excellent, and said maintaining them required money.
“Recently we have been experiencing water shortages at the crematorium because of broken municipal pipes. To ensure our services are not disrupted, two 2 500-litre water tanks were installed.”
He said a state-of-the-art generator also ensured that cremations went ahead even when there were electricity disruptions.
In a letter to funeral companies in the city, the crematorium’s management attributed the increases to the escalating prices of gas (20 percent), diesel and electricity (25 percent), repairs and maintenance, service charges for the cremators and associated equipment, as well as salary increases for staff and daily running costs.
Moodley said the 5 percent increase was below inflation.
Ngcobo, of the municipality, said burial space was still a problem.
“Unfortunately this issue has not been resolved. But plans are afoot to try and find a solution,” he said.
“We have appointed a company to look at the availability of land in the city.”
Ngcobo said the company was looking to secure either government or private land for burials.
“We expect a comprehensive report to be handed in to us in the next three to four months.
“That should help us find the space we are desperately looking for.”
Daily News