Icebolethu Funerals: Care and Dignity plans, contact numbers and claims

Icebolethu Funerals is a funeral group founded in KwaZulu-Natal by its CEO, Nomfundo Mcoyi. Its website lists funeral cover plans and a full funeral service: collecting the deceased, storage, washing and preparing the body, help with death registration, embalming where required, church preparation and decor, and burial assistance including a lowering device.

The group also offers catering, tombstones, SADC burial and repatriation cover, and a UK branch in London. It repatriates within South Africa, the UK and the SADC region.

The official site is icebolethugroup.co.za. An older web address, icebolethu.com, no longer responds, so check the address before you send anyone your details.

• Icebolethu's call centre (086 000 7580) is staffed 24/7 and WhatsApp is 079 792 6827. (icebolethugroup.co.za)
• Icebolethu says funeral cover starts 'from as little as R125pm'; its Care Silver Plan is R125 a month for a single member aged 16-64, up to R705 a month for a Dignity Platinum family. (icebolethugroup.co.za)
• Since September 2024 the insurer for Icebolethu policies is RMA Life Assurance Company; Icebolethu remains administrator and says benefits and premiums stay the same. (icebolethugroup.co.za)
• If the deceased is at home, contact Icebolethu immediately and do not call other funeral parlours, because they will charge and the family becomes responsible for removal and storage costs. (icebolethugroup.co.za)
• A death must be reported to Icebolethu within 6 months, and Icebolethu says it will inform the claimant within 48 hours of receiving the claim whether it needs more information or whether the claim is approved or declined. (icebolethugroup.co.za)
• All Icebolethu funeral policy holders get a 10% cash back benefit: 10% of premiums back if they do not claim over a period of 5 years. (icebolethugroup.co.za)
• Icebolethu repatriates the deceased within South Africa, the UK and the SADC region, and includes repatriation within South Africa in its Care and Dignity plans. (icebolethugroup.co.za)

Plans as Icebolethu Funerals describes them on its own website on 30 September 2026. Premiums depend on your age, the cover amount and who you add, so the published figures are examples, not quotes.

Extra benefits Icebolethu Funerals lists:

• Care Silver Plan: iSave Rewards, Digital Death Notice, repatriation within South Africa.
• Care Gold Plan: iSave Rewards, Digital Death Notice.
• Care Platinum Plan (marked 'Most Popular'): iSave Rewards, Digital Death Notice.
• Dignity Silver Plan: iSave Rewards, Digital Death Notice, tombstone.
• Dignity Platinum Plan: iSave Rewards, Digital Death Notice, tombstone.
• Top-ups (Inkomo, Tombstone, Grave, Catering, Groceries, Accidental Death Cover): Catering: cooks for a maximum of 300 guests, brings own cooks, crockery and cutlery.

Sources: icebolethugroup.co.za/funeral-cover.

Icebolethu sells two ranges, and each has a plan called Platinum. This causes confusion, so check which one a salesperson means.

• Care plans (Silver, Gold and Platinum) pay for a funeral service package with a casket, hearse, family cars, tent and chairs, plus cash-style benefits such as a sympathy payout, grocery, airtime, bus and grave fee amounts. Care Platinum is marked Most Popular on the site.
• Dignity plans add items such as livestock and a tombstone. Dignity Platinum is the top plan. It includes a cow, a sheep or goat and a Platinum-range tombstone, as the plans table above shows.

Premiums are published for a single member, a single parent and a family, and the table above lists them. They are for principal members aged 16 to 64. The site notes that children are covered while under 21.

Every policy holder also gets a 10% cash back benefit if they do not claim over 5 years. Optional top-ups include accidental death cover, tombstone, grave, catering and groceries. The catering top-up carries its own waiting period of six months.

The Accidental Death Cover amount differs between two places on the Icebolethu site. The plans table shows the pricing table figure. Ask which amount your policy pays.

Checked on 30 September 2026 against Icebolethu Funerals's official website. Numbers change, so confirm on the linked page before you call. Icebolethu Funerals will never ask you to pay a claim fee or send money to a new bank account; if a caller does, hang up and phone the official number.

Funeral-cover page: 'over 200 branches and over 60 Boxer service outlets'. Contact page lists branches and Boxer outlets in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Free State and North West, plus mortuaries. Durban call centre at 277 Umbilo Road, Congela. (icebolethugroup.co.za)

Sources: icebolethugroup.co.za/contact, icebolethugroup.co.za/funeral-cover.

Icebolethu Group is the administrator. Since September 2024 the insurer on Icebolethu policies is RMA Life Assurance Company, a licensed insurer. Icebolethu says benefits and premiums stayed the same when the insurer changed. Its own pages also mention SADC cover offered together with RMA Life Assurance Company.

Icebolethu does not publish the waiting period for the Care and Dignity plans on its plan pages. Its claims page says a claim can be declined if the person is still under a waiting period. Ask for the waiting period for each person in writing before you pay a premium.

South African rules allow a funeral policy to have a waiting period of up to six months for natural death. They allow no waiting period for accidental death. If you are switching from another insurer and had already completed that waiting period on similar cover for the same people, the rules stop the new insurer from imposing a fresh one. Ask about this if you are moving.

You can ask for cover through the contact form on icebolethugroup.co.za, by phoning the call centre, by WhatsApp or at a branch.

When someone dies, contact Icebolethu before anyone else. If the deceased is at home, do not call other funeral parlours, because they will charge you and your family becomes responsible for removal and storage costs. The 24-hour call centre number is in the contact table above.

Icebolethu's claims page lists the documents it asks for:

• A completed claim form, which you download or collect at a branch.
• A certified copy of the deceased's ID or birth certificate, and of the main member's ID.
• A certified copy of the Home Affairs death certificate.
• The BI 1663 form completed by the certifying doctor.
• For an unnatural death, the SAPS report and the accident or incident report with the case number stamped by SAPS.
• The claimant's ID.
• A bank statement of the principal member if the deceased is a spouse or dependant, or of the beneficiary if the deceased is the main member.

Report the death within six months. Within 48 hours of receiving your claim, Icebolethu says it will either ask for more information or tell you whether the claim is approved or declined. That 48 hours is a decision time, so ask when the money or the service will follow.

Ask Icebolethu for the reason in writing and the clause it relies on. Waiting periods, unpaid premiums and fraud are the usual reasons funeral claims are declined. South African rules say a late premium paid inside the grace period should not defeat a valid claim, and an insurer may not refuse a claim because you left out something it never asked about.

If you cannot settle it with Icebolethu, complain to the National Financial Ombud Scheme. It is free. Phone 0860 800 900, email [email protected] or use the form on nfosa.co.za. Keep copies of every message and document.

• Which range and plan is this, Care or Dignity, and what will the family actually receive?
• What is the waiting period for each person, and does it restart when I add someone?
• Who is covered, up to what age, and what do children over 21 cost?
• Who is the insurer on my policy today, and is that written in my policy schedule?
• Which benefits are paid in cash and which are goods or services?
• What happens if I miss a premium, and when does cover stop?
• Which branch will handle the funeral, and can it work in the town where we will bury?
• Is the Accidental Death Cover amount R10 000 or R15,000 on my policy?