Grieving families forced to wait due to looting at funeral parlours

THE looting of stores and other businesses in KwaZulu-Natal, which resulted in the destruction of 22 offices of one of the biggest funeral parlours in the country, Icebolethu Group, has left many families with no means to bury their loved ones.

Icebolethu Group CEO, Nomfundo Mcoyi said funerals for black people are usually large gatherings that involve local residents, immediate and extended family members, colleagues and friends and can span from the day the person dies until they are buried.

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However, according to Mcoyi, the looting has forced grieving families to stop funeral preparations as many coffins and other items were stolen or damaged during the unrest.

Funeral parlours were unable to deliver bodies to their families due to the lack of materials and closure of the roads.

The company took to social media, calling for the public to calm down.

Mcoyi urged clients to bear with them as they are currently rebuilding their looted offices.

“We are pleading with the community members to work with us as we rebuild and try to serve the families who lost their loved ones. We are doing everything in our power to serve our clients and ensure that their members are buried with dignity during the difficult period,” said Mcoyi.

She added that they have tried to move the arrangement of a funeral online to limit the number of people coming to their offices.

Andile Zungu, a client from KwaMashu, whose sister died on July 9, said it was awkward to plan the funeral as phone calls were unanswered at Icebolethu offices.

“The family planned to bury my sister on July 13, but we could not hold the burial as we did not have the body. We were told that we have to wait until the unrest comes to an end,” he said.

Zungu said this was hard on his family as they did not know what was happening with his sister’s body.

He said only immediate family members were involved in the funeral.

“We finally paid our last respects to my sister on July 17 after waiting for days. We are grateful that the unrest is over and families can be able to bury their loved ones,” he said.

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Another Icebolethu client, who asked to remain anonymous, said that it was difficult to adhere to the fact that he was unable to bury his wife who died on 10 July.

“We planned to bury my wife on July 15, but we could not due to the unrest in the province which contributed to the looting of funeral parlours. It was a sad whole week for my family with everyone wondering what could happen next,” the husband said.

He added that his wife was buried yesterday, July 18, at Klaarwater Cemetery.

He said they did not even erect a huge tent in their yard due to the Covid-19 regulations.

“There was no night vigil with singing and sermons to comfort the bereaved. The family had to pray among themselves. The painful part is his big family could not all go to the cemetery at the same time,” he said.

He added that the law had hung over him and he was worried about how he would regulate the number of people at the funeral because he feared being arrested if they were found to have broken the law.