Durban - AN investigation into price gouging in the funeral industry and over the price of ginger and garlic in KwaZulu-Natal has found that businesses inflated the amounts of goods and services during the Covid-19 pandemic.
On Sunday, Ravi Pillay, the MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA) in KZN, said his department's investigation into price gouging during the second wave of Covid-19 was completed.
In January, the POST spoke to two families, who claimed they were asked to pay more than what they were quoted for funerals. A woman said she was quoted R10 500 for the funeral of her mom, but she was later asked to pay an additional R3 000. A man claimed he paid R4 000 more for his brother's funeral despite his sibling having a funeral policy.
At the time, funeral parlour owners said the extra charge covered personal protective equipment, sanitisers and foggers. They said families requested doves and bagpipers for funerals at an extra cost.
The EDTEA soon thereafter launched an investigation.
Pillay said the department received 13 complaints against three Durban-based funeral parlours.
“Nine of these complaints were against one of the three funeral parlours. The main allegation was that the funeral parlours had inflated prices of funeral products and charged exorbitant Covid-19 handling fees.
“There were also complaints that funeral policies were disregarded and that grieving families were made to pay additional fees without being given adequate information. Following our investigation and mediation processes, there has been progress on these cases. The funeral parlour facing nine complaints has since made offers to the complainants,” he said.
Pillay said the offers included discounts and refunds on Covid handling costs.
Pillay said the second funeral parlour, which faced three complaints, refunded one complainant in full and resolved the other two complaints with the concerned complainants.
He said the third business resolved the matter with the complainant and that the complaint was withdrawn.
“During the second wave, we know how many people were dying and they (funeral parlours) were pushing their prices right up and we (the department) investigated. In fact, we investigated about 13 cases. Because it was Covid, they were saying they needed to put plastic here and there and gloves here and there but they were putting the price right up,” he said.
The investigations also found that big companies were taking advantage of consumers over the price of ginger.
“Because someone said ginger and garlic were helping to cure or avoid getting Covid, people were buying it and big companies were taking advantage of it. In a big supermarket, the price of ginger was R499 per/kg. That was price gouging. They were taking a chance by raising the price to make a big profit and we took these companies up as well, because we knew how families were battling financially and they were taking advantage,” he said.
Pillay said the department had since shared its findings and recommendations with the National Competition Commission. The commission is a statutory body empowered to investigate, control and evaluate restrictive business practices, abuse of dominant positions and mergers in order to achieve equity and efficiency in the South African economy.
The Post