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Death eventually comes to us all. But for those who stay behind, the price of death is not measured in pain and mourning alone… but in cold hard cash...

TITLE SLIDE: PRICE OF DEATH

A report by Mpho Moagi

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Death has become big business. And where there's money to be made, the competition can get nasty… as the Sibiya family of Khatelehong found out.

When Andries Sibiya's wife passed away after a long illness, he took the body to the local police station to report her death. Here he was confronted by what he calls "a body snatching racket"… run from inside the charge office.

The policeman on duty forced Mr Sibiya to hand over his wife's body to a specific undertaker… a business owned by an ex-policeman.

Mr Sibiya  refused. He insisted on using the undertaker linked to his own burial society. The policeman then refused to issue the necesssary documentation…

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The outraged family turned to Special Assignment… and we ‘accompanied them to the Isizwe Funeral Undertakers… to get to the bottom of the body snatching allegations:

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The Funeral Undertakers Association recommends a maximum storage fee of R50 per  body per day. Despite this, Isizwe's bill was R800 for just two days...

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For years the Sibiya family had made provision for dark days like these. They’d paid a monthly contribution to a burial society linked to a specific undertaker.

Now, in their hour of need, they were left with only one option…  to buy back the body of their loved one from Isizwe Undertakers. 

For many poor people, an unexpected expense like this can be crippling. The Sibiya family had to beg and borrow for four long weeks... before they they could finally lay to rest the body of their wife and mother...

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On the dusty East Rand near Johannesburg is the mortuary of Sebokeng hospital. It’s one the regions biggest and busiest. This is the sad destination  for many anxious families. They come here to claim and identify the bodies of loved ones.

Outside the gates, clutches of undertakers stake out this territory of death…

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A twist to the tale. The undertakers seem to have someone on the inside at the mortuary and hospital who feeds them information about who has died. This allows them to race to the side of the family -  like towtruck drivers to the scene of an accident.

Selinah says she did not hear about her sister's death from the hospital or the police…  but from an undertaker who came to her house.

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The undertakers defend their actions. They say it’s simply good business practice. They need customers and by being at the scene, they bring the business to the clients. They do admit that they pay for inside information and say mortuary staff sell them the names of deceased:

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But even those who do take up the offer of a mortuary-side undertaker,  have NO guarentee of quality from then onwards.

POSSIBLE ADBREAK;

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We came across many small undertakers who don’t stick to the guidelines set out by the established firms. But they claim to give a good, affordable service… and don't make clients pay for all the frills...

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We found another undertaker operating right in the middle of  surburbia. This man stores bodies in a mortuary, but prepares them for burial in his garage:

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Thoughts of death become ever more frequent as the elderley become the old. Not having made proper plans for a decent burial, is a thought that can haunt the old and poor. This fear is the driving force behind an entire industry of burial schemes.

The burial scheme business started as a way of allowing people to plan for dignified funerals. Today it’s become a flourishing insurance business that turns over millions.

This is a pension queue near Pietermarizburg in KwazuluNatal -- a prime target for aggressive agents… selling burial schemes.

Some of the old people have been queing since two o'clock in the morning to sign for their R520 old age pension. Some are too old and frail to survive the standing and waiting… and pay younger people to queue for them, to carry them, to transport them:...

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In amongst the mass of desperate people, are the young funeral scheme  agents… trawling for new customers. They sign up the often illiterate old people in the confusion and chaos of the payout queue. Once they’ve made their thumbprint on the funeral scheme form,  monthly payments are deducted directly from their pensions. Many say they don’t know what they’re signing for…

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When these old people return to their homes, often very little is  left of the money they get paid. And for many CONFUSION is what they take with them.  NOT the security of knowing that they have prepared for a decent funeral when they die.

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It’s in the city where the innovations  in the burial industry can best be seen. The society funeral of today has become a status symbol. It’s hallmark is sophistication and style -- a far cry from the simplicity of a traditional rural burial.

Pomp and ceremony make for an expensive affair. The grander the sendoff, the more lavish the detail... From the clothes to the casket, from the car to the red carpet: style is what matters. And great style doesn’t come cheaply…

Even the most basic funeral package today can cost more than an average South African earns inYour status in life should be reflected in death. If you lived a fast and lavish life - like this young man being laid to rest - your funeral should have all the appropriate trappings...

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The funeral business of today is like any industry catering to the discerning consumer with money to burn. It offers a wide menu of styles -- and a wild range of prices.  Limousines and helicopters can replace the traditional hearse… and the bulldozer the trusty old spade. Drinks and snacks are served to revive the mourner as the deceased is laid to rest

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But that choice in the funeral parlour showroom often comes with more than a four-hundred percent mark-up on the factory price. A basic chipboard coffin  takes seven minutes to make. It’s sold for R250 to retailers… but costs the consumer around R1800.

A pine coffin costing R520  takes 20 minutes to make. It’s sold for around R4000 at a funeral parlour. And a casket with a factory tag of R1500 can cost up to R6000.

Factories only sell to retailers and never directly to consumers. Any markup is therefore guarenteed profit...

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Coffins and cars are only part of the story… and only a fraction of the expense. For the discerning, the cost of the traditional after-funeral event, can also skyrocket.

From tents to portable toilets… from food to the new must-have: a  “like-it-hot” catering van -- the status-funeral requires lots of hard cash....

But... the real money burner is a new kind of after-funeral-party… that has nothing to do with the old ways ...

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The after tears party is the product of a new urban generation who that live fast and dangerously. It’s a modern concept that has  traditionalists gagging.  Instead of a mourning period, the focus is now on celebrating the life of the person who’s passed away...