Funeral parlours in Rustenburg and the North West: 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 bury locally, in a rural village, or in another province if that is where the family is from.
• 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, your employer's worker committee or community for parlours they have used.

Cemetery fees in Rustenburg are set by Rustenburg 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 We have not verified a current tariff, so we do not quote one.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 Rustenburg prices. Taking a body to another province adds transport, so ask for it as a separate line on the quote.

These are the parlours and chains whose own published information places them in the North West, or in every province. Confirm the nearest branch and the current price with each one.

We have no verified North West branch list for AVBOB or Two Mountains. Ask them directly if you want them to quote.

Many families in Rustenburg come from elsewhere and bury at home. Ask each parlour whether it takes the body itself or hands over to a parlour in the other province, what the combined cost is, how long it takes, and what happens if the funeral date changes.

Ask for the paperwork that will travel with the body, and for the quote in writing. Several chains say they repatriate within South Africa, including Doves and Icebolethu, but check what your plan or quote actually includes.

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.

Rekathusa, for example, says natural deaths in the first six months are not paid on its RFP Plus Plan, gives a one-month grace period for a missed premium, and lapses the policy if it is still unpaid after two months. Read the terms of your own plan for the same points.

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 Rustenburg Local Municipality about indigent (pauper) burial assistance for residents who qualify, and ask the parlour for its most basic burial option. Pyramid Funeral Parlour says it helps local government with indigent burials, so it may be worth asking.

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.