Funeral costs among fastest-rising in SA

If the escalating cost of stocking up on meat for a weekend braai is enough to send you in the direction of an early grave, be forewarned - funerals are also becoming more pricey in South Africa.

"The annual inflation rate for meat climbed to 15% in August 2017, which is the highest it has been since December 2011. A juicy beef fillet would have set you back R194/kg, up from R173 in August last year.

"Over the same period the average price of a kilogram of beef mince rose by 13.2% (from R68 to R77) and the annual inflation rate for mutton loin chops was 17%," Stats SA said in an analysis of the country's fastest-rising prices for the 12 months before August.

Apart from meat, other food and drink items with prices above target inflation included sugar, sweets and desserts (8.1%), hot beverages (7.5%) and spirit coolers and ciders (8.1%).

"Medical insurance was above target at 10.3%, as were doctors (6.5%), dentists (6.3%) and medicines (7.2%).

"All the main education-related categories were above target, namely primary and secondary school fees (7.6%), tertiary education fees (6.2%) and university boarding fees (8.5%)," the stats agency said.

Package holidays were the chief culprit when it came to rising prices over the period in question, at 24.4%.

Funeral service costs increased 12%.

Explaining why this was the case, Mike Collinge, the inland region chairman of the National Funeral Directors Association, said that fuel and labour were the items mourners spent most on.

Collinge said: "We use big cars to move the coffin in.

"Families sometimes request up to four vehicles for the family. This is apart from a big bus they would also hire for the extended family to be transported in.

"At the burial site the family may want to have seating available as well as loudspeakers. Some people go all out when it comes to funerals."

Standard Bank's head of long-term insurance propositions, Felix Kagura, urged people to be cautious when looking to purchase funeral plans.

"Consumers should look for funeral plans that offer benefits over and above the usual lump sum payout," Kagura said.