Bodies on highway symptomatic of an unpoliced industry

Entrepreneur magazine published an article in September on the ins and outs of starting a funeral business.

It quotes Chris Molynex, of the National Funeral Directors' Association of SA, as saying: "A funeral director is in fact an events manager, but one who doesn't have as much time to organise an event."

Dark words, but true. Just ask Aaron Mabuza, the owner of Soweto Funeral Services, who last week rented a trailer to transport bodies from Charlotte Maxeke hospital for a paupers' burial.

Entrepreneur magazine went on to say that subcontracting was a good way to make money and popular tributes at funerals were the release of a dove or butterflies at the graveside. "Another appealing choice is a bagpiper or a 'live' jazz band to play at the end of the ceremony."

This seems worlds apart from the "event" Mabuza was managing last week, when the wheels of the trailer came off, leaving the bodies of 16 adults and 26 stillborn babies stranded on one of Johannesburg's busiest highways. Joburg official Lungela Longwe said this showed "no respect to the deceased and their families".

Grave-digger Sthembiso Nkosi, at the cemetery where the paupers' burial would happen, told The Sowetan: "We can bury up to four adults in one grave."

No butterflies or doves or bagpipes here.

The provincial health department has promised to investigate how it came about that the bodies were overloaded on a trailer and transported in unhygienic conditions.

That's great, but there are an estimated 20000 illegal funeral parlour operators in South Africa, an industry that has no ombudsman and no code of conduct.

It's just that the bodies in their care had not spilt onto a highway, so clearly no investigation into their conduct is necessary.