Since December last year, undertakers have been unable to book cremations at the Mobeni Heights crematorium for “larger bodies” as the furnace door of the incinerator is too small.
Fed-up with the ongoing problems at the crematorium, the Progressive Funeral Practitioners Association of South Africa (PROFPA SA) has appealed to the eThekwini Municipality to allow the facility to be privatised, or its day-to-day running outsourced.
Director of Pinetown Funeral Services, Clive Moodley, said: “This crematorium can only accommodate four funerals a day as there is only one furnace in operation at present. That furnace cannot accommodate a large body because the furnace door is too small. This has resulted in families having to incur extra costs for cremation at private facilities,” said Moodley.
“PROFPA SA has made an application to the city to purchase and/or manage the crematorium. The Mobeni Heights Crematorium can’t accommodate caskets or oversized coffins. If the municipality accepts our proposal, we will have the facility up and running in about three months. We will also install another three furnaces to meet the demand,” added Moodley.
He said four furnaces would accommodate up to 25 cremations a day.
“The cost of the new furnaces is about R12 million, which the municipality does not have. They don't even have money to repair the one which is broken.”
Gugu Sisilana, the spokesperson for the eThekwini Municipality, said when the only working furnace at the crematorium had a mechanical breakdown on December 9, an emergency repair was undertaken.
This was done with minimal impact, and scheduled cremations continued to take place, added Sisilana.
“The crematorium is designed for two furnaces. However, the second furnace has reached its safe working lifespan. As an alternative, the Tongaat Crematorium and private facilities are available. Due to the impact Covid-19 had on the economy and the collection of rates, the capital funding for the replacement of the broken furnace is currently on hold. This will be reviewed once the budget becomes available.
“No current applications to privatise Mobeni Heights Crematorium have been received from undertakers or other parties. There are four private crematoriums located within eThekwini, with an average combined capacity of 60 cremations per day and should the need arise, this can be increased.
“The cremations at the municipality crematoriums cost R1 200 for an adult, which is much below the industrial norm as they are subsidised by the municipality. Should privatisation take place, these rates may be increased exponentially to the detriment of the users that have no insurance or funeral policies to cover burial or cremation costs.”
The privately run crematoriums include the Clare Estate, Verulam, Stellawood and Cato Ridge crematoriums.
Private crematoriums charge between R2 000 and R4 000 per cremation.
Teddy Govender, chairperson of the Chatsworth and Districts Civic Federation, said the Mobeni Heights Crematorium was out of operation from 2013 to 2015 and again from 2016 to 2019.
“This was at great inconvenience and came at double the cost to families who had to use private crematoriums. This cost excluded travel costs to these facilities from Chatsworth.
“The Mobeni Heights Crematorium, with a pyramid and a dome cremator was commissioned in 1994. There have been many issues since then. In 2013, both were decommissioned. In 2015, an incinerator was commissioned and by August it was not compliant for air quality. In 2016, the incinerator became unusable. In one of the many, many meetings, l queried the warranty and insurance but no one had any answers,” said Govender.
“The municipality then budgeted to import two cremators. The process moved at a snail's pace. Members of the civic federation joined community activists and the undertakers, and marched to the Durban City Hall where a memorandum was handed to city officials. Despite this, the process just dragged on,” he added.
“In 2018, l raised the issue of the crematorium with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office. Finally, in 2019, one cremator was installed but not without problems. In 2021, the second cremator was installed and the other one became unusable.
“So in five of the 11 years, the facility did not function and in the other six years, only one cremator was operating. The municipality has failed to provide optimally operating facilities, which is a responsibility of the government, as entrenched in our constitution. The municipality took three years to install one cremator, costing over R5 million. For the facility to operate, optimally, the municipality must employ suitably qualified professional staff and suitably qualified operational staff.”
Govender added that the federation did not support privatisation because it would still be a financial burden on the affected communities.
“Instead, a public private partnership, with government subsidy for cremation fees is proposed. A board of trustees must be created, with one representative from the municipality, one from the undertakers and eight trustees from the community. This will enable the facility to function efficiently and cost effectively,” Govender said.