Funeral homes overwhelmed as suppliers run out of boards to make coffins

For the funeral industry, business is not booming but rather bursting out of its seams as the undertakers try and keep up with the high death rate.

Johan Rossouw from Funeral Industry Reformed Association said according to its members, the current intake of bodies was nearly three times more than last year.

He said the industry was full, from fridges, to mortuaries, to cemeteries which cannot accommodate the current high demand.

“One of our 2 000 members in Cape Town handled more than 60 bodies last month. That’s just one of 2 000 other parlours,” Rossouw said.

He added another member from the West Rand had already collected 22 bodies this month alone. Rossouw explained South Africa was currently in one of the three peak periods in the funeral industry, which includes the winter season from May to August, the December holidays and Easter weekend.

Marius du Plessis, marketing and communication manager for Avbob, said compared to June last year, funerals last month went up by about 30%. The levels were, however, not close to the current July levels or January’s.

Du Plessis said during the first wave in July and August last year, Avbob did 60% more funerals than in the previous year in the same period.

“We anticipate we will see a sharp increase in Gauteng from approximately mid-July,” Du Plessis said.

Mike Collinge, co-owner of Collinge and Co funeral parlour in Fourways, said it was currently extremely busy with funerals.

“We had a phone call this morning from our coffin supplier to say there was a shortage of boards to make the coffins,” he said.

Collinge said his company was also struggling with the department of home affairs, which has allegedly said it will only issue five death certificates per funeral director per day.

“How the hell do you do that when the department of health said you have to bury a Covid person within five days?” he asked.

He said it took about three days to get the documents from the doctors, if you were lucky.

“The doctors are also working like 18-20 hours a day and they cannot leave their patients to go sign off death certificates,” he said.

Collinge said during the second wave they had bought a new refrigerator to keep up with demand.

“We were busy during all of the waves last year. We get very busy, but only for a week or 10 days at a time,” Collinge said.

Mornay Engelbrecht, from Krugersdorp and co-owner of Anmor Funerals on the West Rand, said the industry was not
booming but rather bursting at its seams.

“We are not coping to some extent,” Engelbrecht said.

He said funerals had doubled in comparison with his average.

“Only one week into July, and we are already standing on a body count of a normal month,” Engelbrecht said. “While talking to you I have another three bodies on the way. It’s horrible.”

He said he had noticed more than 50% of people they buried who died from Covid were overweight.

“I noticed because it means you need a bigger coffin and that body takes up double the space in the fridge,” he said.

He said some nights they got home at 9pm, only to be called out again in the early hours of the morning to collect more bodies.

“It’s rough, it’s very tough. I fear when my phone rings.”

Engelbrecht said two months ago he had buried an elderly woman whose husband also recently died due to Covid.

“A lot of families return to us. That’s why I don’t want to talk to them anymore, I already know what they are going to say, come get the body,” Engelbrecht said.

– marizkac@citizen.co.za