Cash in or ash out? Scarcity is the nail in Mzansi’s coffins
With burial plots in short supply amid a boom in ‘un-African’ funeral subscriptions, the cost of dying is now a burning issue.
Chris Makhaye in Durban
The burial business in South Africa is booming, with private “memorial parks” pricing space by the square metre as municipal cemeteries run out of plots.
At Lala Kahle Private Cemetery west of Durban, burial plots start at R5,000 ($280). In contrast, a municipal burial plot in Johannesburg would cost R2,250.
About half a million people die every year in South Africa. Durban, Tshwane, and Cape Town have all reported a shortage of burial space. Some funeral parlours offer monthly payments to secure future burial plots, a service marketed as “affordable dignity”. Traditional leaders call this “un-African” and spiritually dangerous.
“Paying policies to buy graves goes against African tradition,” said Inkosi Thanduyise Mzimela, the former chairperson of the Ingonyama Trust. “It commodifies death.”
Funeral costs drive the high cost of dying higher yet: The country ranks fourth in the world in funeral costs relative to average income, with the average burial costing R26,875 – about 28% of annual median income.
Factoring in cultural rites like slaughtering a cow to honour the ancestors and feed mourners, an “after tears” celebration, and transport, families could spend well over R50,000.
Cemetery associations say cremation – still taboo in many African cultures – may become a necessity. But resistance is strong. “You don’t burn the body of someone who must become an ancestor,” said Zandile Mthethwa, 73, from Umlazi township.