Funeral parlours in Mthatha: costs, repatriation and 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. If the person died in another province, the same rules apply there before the body can travel. Ask the parlour that collects the body which documents it will hand over for the journey.

• Get written, itemised quotes from two or three parlours and compare them line by line.
• Confirm they can collect from another province if needed and bury in your village.
• 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 Mthatha are set by the King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality. We have not verified a current tariff for it, so we do not quote one. Phone the municipality's cemetery office, ask for the current fee, and ask whether it is different for people who did not live in the municipality. That matters for repatriated burials.

To show why it matters, Ekurhuleni's 2025/26 tariff for its Category A cemeteries charges an adult first interment R2 648 for residents and R11 010 for non-residents. Ekurhuleni is not Mthatha, and Mthatha's fees may work differently, but it is a reason to ask.

For a national benchmark only: 1Life, an insurer, estimates a funeral at 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 residency. These are national estimates, not Mthatha prices.

If the person died elsewhere, two parlours are usually involved: one where the death happened and one at the Eastern Cape end. Ask each of them for a written quote, and ask whether they work together or whether you must coordinate.

Ask how the body will travel, how long it will take, who pays for the journey, and what happens if the funeral date moves. Ask whether the transport is priced separately or inside a package. Several chains say they repatriate within South Africa: Doves transports remains from the place of death to the place of rest within the country, Icebolethu includes repatriation within South Africa in its Care and Dignity plans, and AVBOB lists national repatriation among its services. Check what your own plan or quote actually includes.

These are the chains whose own published information places them in the Eastern Cape or in every province. We have not verified that any of them has a branch in Mthatha itself, so confirm the nearest branch.

• Two Mountains lists over 90 locations across Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, and says its pick-up and repatriation services run around the clock.
• Icebolethu lists branches in the Eastern Cape on its contact page, among several other provinces.
• Richter Funerals is an Eastern Cape family business with two branches, East London and King William's Town, serving the Border-Kei region. That is a long way from Mthatha, so ask whether it will travel.
• Doves says it has more than 160 branches across all nine provinces.
• Martin's Funerals says it has representation in all nine provinces, and its branch locator has listed branches in Gqeberha, Uitenhage and Jeffreys Bay. Its branches are franchises.

Call the insurer or the parlour that sold the cover before you sign a quote. The claims number is on the policy schedule. If the death happened in another province, tell them where the funeral will be, because that can change who conducts it. Ask whether the plan pays cash or provides services, and whether it applies only if that parlour conducts the funeral.

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 the King Sabata Dalindyebo 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.

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