Durban -The eThekwini Municipality is to speedily table its Funeral Civic Policy that will prescribe what kind of funerals – and for how much money – the municipality can sponsor.
This is according to opposition parties, who raised their concerns when R500 000 was spent on the funeral of gospel singer Sifiso Ncwane.
“This will help stop controversies that arise after people have been buried, which disturbs the memory of the dead and their families,” said IFP leader in the council Mdu Nkosi.
Nkosi was speaking after concerns were raised that the spending on Ncwane’s funeral at Moses Mabhida stadium could be viewed as irregular expenditure by the auditor-general without a policy in place.
The city said the policy was in a workshop phase and should be tabled next month.
The spending on Ncwane’s funeral came a few months after the city was criticised for spending about R750 000 on the funeral of multimillionaire Durban businessman Don Mkhwanazi.
The recommendation for funding for Ncwane’s funeral, which was addressed to the office of the mayor and municipal manager, said: “In view of the urgency of the matter and the council currently being on recess, it is not possible to obtain timeous approval from the executive committee, you are kindly requested to give consideration to the recommendation in terms of Rule of Order 28.”
It said Ncwane was a great South African musician who donated to orphans and had a foundation which donated uniforms to more than 1 000 school children.
A request for a contribution towards the funeral had been made by Ncwane’s family.
Nkosi said the policy should be implemented to ensure there was transparency.
“Last year I had to apply for access to information with respect to the funeral of Mkhwanazi. It should be clear to whom the city will contribute and how much. We see this even with councillors’ funerals. If a councillor of another party dies they get only R15 000 while more money is spent on those of the ANC.”
DA leader Zwakele Mncwango said: “For the past five years, we have been fighting for the municipality to put a policy in place. We spent more than R500 000 on Ncwane’s funeral because about R250 000 went to hosting a concert... that is R750 000."
“So in less than two years we spent close to R2m. Other municipalities have limits, the guys in Johannesburg municipality have a limit of R85 000 (for a funeral).”
Mthunzi Gumede, spokesperson for eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede, said the policy was almost ready.
“It was tabled before the previous council and there were some concerns that needed to be sorted, but it will be tabled again next month,” he said.
Gumede said as part of being a caring municipality, it contributed to funerals of those in need, including the funerals of the children who died in a recent taxi crash.
The municipality had also reportedly contributed to the funerals of the children who died in a fire at the Lakehaven Children’s home in July.