Funeral parlours in Kimberley and the Northern Cape: how to choose

Tell Home Affairs about the death within 72 hours. The person who gives notice is a family member, or a representative the family appoints with a letter of authority. Home Affairs uses form DHA-1663 when a doctor issues the notice of death, and form DHA-1680 when the notice comes from another authority, such as a Traditional Authority.

No burial or cremation may take place until notice of death has been given and a burial order has been issued. The law counts cremation as burial for this purpose, so the same paperwork applies. An abridged death certificate is issued free on the day the death is registered.

If the death was not from natural causes, the police must be told first, and the body goes to a state mortuary until the post-mortem is done. Most parlours will help with the registration paperwork, so ask when you first phone.

• Get written, itemised quotes from two or three parlours and compare them line by line.
• Confirm they can collect and bury where you need, given the distances involved.
• Ask what is included and what costs extra: hearse, family cars, tent, chairs and the coffin.
• View the coffin range before you agree.
• If the parlour sells funeral cover, ask which licensed insurer underwrites it and check the parlour's FSP number with the FSCA on 0800 110 443.
• Ask family, church and community for parlours they have used.

Cemetery fees in Kimberley are set by Sol Plaatje Local Municipality. We have not verified a current tariff, so we do not quote one. Phone the municipality's cemetery office, ask for the current burial fee, and ask whether residents and non-residents pay differently. Then compare each parlour's quote in writing.

For a national benchmark only: 1Life, an insurer, estimates that a funeral costs R35 000 to R45 000 on average when a municipal burial plot is used, and more than R50 000 with a private memorial park. It puts an adult burial plot in a municipal facility at R2 000 to R11 000, depending on the cemetery and whether the deceased was a resident of the municipality.

These are national estimates from one insurer, not Kimberley prices.

Towns in the Northern Cape can be far apart, so the cost of moving the deceased to the burial site can be a bigger share of the total. Ask every parlour to price the transport on its own line, and ask how it is calculated, for example per trip or by distance.

If the funeral is in another town, ask whether the parlour will travel there or hand over to a local parlour, who arranges the grave and tent, and what happens if the date changes. Ask for the whole arrangement in writing.

We could not verify a Kimberley branch for any chain. Two say they cover every province, which includes the Northern Cape. Confirm the nearest branch and the current price with each.

• Doves says it has more than 160 branches across all nine provinces. It also says it transports remains from the place of death to the place of rest within South Africa.
• Martin's Funerals says it has representation in all nine provinces, and its branch locator has listed Upington among its branches, each with its own 24-hour number. Its branches are franchises, so service can differ from branch to branch.

AVBOB publishes a national 24-hour funeral line, 0861 28 26 21, and lists national repatriation among its services, but we have no verified Northern Cape branch list for it. Icebolethu does not list the Northern Cape among the provinces on its contact page. There are also independent local parlours, which we cannot verify one by one, so use the checklist above.

Call the insurer or the parlour that sold the cover before you sign a quote. The claims number is on the policy schedule. Ask whether the plan pays cash or provides services, and whether it applies only if that parlour conducts the funeral.

Waiting periods are allowed but capped. Doves, for example, says its terms have no waiting period for accidental death, six calendar months for natural causes and twelve for suicide. Your own policy will say what applies to you.

Every insurer sets its own document list, so ask for it when you phone. Old Mutual, for example, lists a copy of the Home Affairs death certificate, copies of the ID or passport of the deceased and of the beneficiary, and proof of a bank account that is not more than three months old. Clientele lists the DHA 1663 notice of death and certified copies of both IDs and the death certificate.

The rules say an insurer must decide on a funeral claim within two business days after it has received all the required documents. That is a deadline to decide, not a promise of payment on the same day. If a claim is declined or delayed, first ask the insurer to explain in writing. Then you can complain to the National Financial Ombud on 0860 800 900. The service is free, and you can complain in any official language.

Ask Sol Plaatje Local Municipality about indigent (pauper) burial assistance for residents who qualify, and ask the parlour for its most basic burial option.

SASSA has no separate funeral grant. If the deceased received a grant and it was not withdrawn in the month of death, the family member who paid for the funeral can claim the unclaimed amount with the death certificate, both IDs, and the funeral invoice and receipt.

Some families belong to a burial society. Read what a burial society is before relying on one, because informal societies carry risk.