The Democratic Alliance (DA) has been inundated with calls from funeral undertakers and bereaved families who are hit hard by the closure of Benoni’s only crematorium.
It has been extremely difficult during the current Covid-19 pandemic as crematoriums are already fully booked and undertakers have to wait two days for a booking, causing further distress, according to Haseena Ismail MP, DA Benoni constituency head.
“Since September last year, the problems experienced at the Crystal Park Lala Ngoxolo Crematorium include inferior cremators, cremators that cannot fit an oversize coffin, cremators being too small, insufficient gas supply and over time rates. There is also a need for more medical referees to be appointed due to the current one being above 80 years.
“It is important to note that at least 175 to 200 cremations were done in a month at the crematorium, and this is not inclusive of winter month figures; however, with the crematorium being closed, this has severely affected undertakers.”
She added that undertakers from Benoni, who in June alone cremated 38 bodies, have to dig deeper in their pockets to book cremations as far as Brixton and Lenasia crematoriums in Johannesburg, at additional cost.
“It is totally unacceptable that undertakers have to be inconvenienced after having reported the unsafe furnaces at Ekurhuleni’s Parks and Cemeteries Department months ago. While R10-million has been budgeted for the upgrade of cemeteries in Benoni this financial year, there has been no expedition of repairs by the department.”
Ismail emphasised that the DA will continue to pressurise the department to ensure that the allocated money is spent on upgrading the crematoriums urgently. We call on the metro to respect the religious rights of residents and upgrade the crematorium as a matter of priority,” she concluded.
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