THE South African Council of Churches has slammed exorbitant funerals and wants burial societies to get better deals from insurance companies that underwrite their funeral schemes.
Church leaders say many funerals - estimated to cost R9.3-billion a year by financial services firm Old Mutual - are too expensive.
The SACC's ecumenical secretary in Gauteng, Rev Gift Moerane, said money was wasted on expensive funeral policies and coffins.
"South Africans do save but wrongly. We save money for death, not for life," said Moerane, who manages the SACC's nationwide financial literacy ministry.
Moerane said the SACC was talking to burial societies across the country to ensure that they get better deals for their members.
According to its November 24 business plan, the SACC has rolled out its financial literacy ministry that has reached 4000 people.
Yesterday, Moerane said he was due to meet the JD Group and plead for more support for the financial literacy ministry, which runs programmes in churches across the country.
The JD Group and the Financial Services Board (FSB) fund the ministry through which the SACC plans to address its long-standing concern about the impoverishing effect of funerals and the lack of financial and estate planning in communities.
SA Federation of Burial Societies national secretary Thulani Mabuza agreed that funerals were expensive, saying they can cost up to R70000.
According to Moerane, some unscrupulous funeral parlours offer burial societies packages equal to their policy payouts to ensure that beneficiaries do not receive a cent.
In other cases, beneficiaries are forced to take out loans from mashonisas (loan sharks) with their funeral benefits as collateral.
Last month at a seminar for funeral parlours organised by Old Mutual, the company said the funeral industry conducted around 620000 funerals every year but admitted it had attracted some less-than-reputable operators.
In January, the Gauteng economic development department introduced the province's Funeral Industry Regulatory Bill to protect the public and enforce rules among funeral parlours.
The bill makes provision for funeral directors guilty of offences to be liable to fines not exceeding R100000 or imprisonment.
The bill would force funeral parlours to display current price lists on their business premises and make copies of their price lists available to consumers on request.
The FSB also warned South Africans to be cautious when purchasing these policies.
sidimbal@sowetan.co.za
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
Stop expensive funerals says council of churches
THE South African Council of Churches has slammed exorbitant funerals and wants burial societies to get better deals from insurance companies that underwrite their funeral schemes.
Church leaders say many funerals - estimated to cost R9.3-billion a year by financial services firm Old Mutual - are too expensive.
The SACC's ecumenical secretary in Gauteng, Rev Gift Moerane, said money was wasted on expensive funeral policies and coffins.
"South Africans do save but wrongly. We save money for death, not for life," said Moerane, who manages the SACC's nationwide financial literacy ministry.
Moerane said the SACC was talking to burial societies across the country to ensure that they get better deals for their members.
According to its November 24 business plan, the SACC has rolled out its financial literacy ministry that has reached 4000 people.
Yesterday, Moerane said he was due to meet the JD Group and plead for more support for the financial literacy ministry, which runs programmes in churches across the country.
The JD Group and the Financial Services Board (FSB) fund the ministry through which the SACC plans to address its long-standing concern about the impoverishing effect of funerals and the lack of financial and estate planning in communities.
SA Federation of Burial Societies national secretary Thulani Mabuza agreed that funerals were expensive, saying they can cost up to R70000.
According to Moerane, some unscrupulous funeral parlours offer burial societies packages equal to their policy payouts to ensure that beneficiaries do not receive a cent.
In other cases, beneficiaries are forced to take out loans from mashonisas (loan sharks) with their funeral benefits as collateral.
Last month at a seminar for funeral parlours organised by Old Mutual, the company said the funeral industry conducted around 620000 funerals every year but admitted it had attracted some less-than-reputable operators.
In January, the Gauteng economic development department introduced the province's Funeral Industry Regulatory Bill to protect the public and enforce rules among funeral parlours.
The bill makes provision for funeral directors guilty of offences to be liable to fines not exceeding R100000 or imprisonment.
The bill would force funeral parlours to display current price lists on their business premises and make copies of their price lists available to consumers on request.
The FSB also warned South Africans to be cautious when purchasing these policies.
sidimbal@sowetan.co.za
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
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