- Title: Designer death? South Africa struggles to bury inequality
- Date: 23rd October 2019
- Summary: JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF LAWRENCE POOE AND COMPANION WALKING AROUND THE NASREC MEMORIAL PARK CEMETERY LOOKING AT GRAVE PLOTS VARIOUS OF TOMBSTONES IN THE CEMETERY BENCHES FOR CLIENTS VARIOUS OF TOMBSTONES COVERED IN WEEDS VARIOUS OF GRAVE BEING DUG CEMETERY WORKERS, POOE AND HIS COMPANION AT THE GRAVE SITE GRAVE (SOUNDBITE) (English) LAWRENCE POOE, CLIENT, SAYING: "I decided to buy a plot here because recently two months back I buried my cousin here, so I fell in love with this place. So I decided that I want to be buried here as well." NASREC MEMORIAL PARK CEMETERY BILLBOARD VARIOUS OF A STREAM GEESE SWIMMING IN A POND TOMBSTONE WITH WREATHS (SOUNDBITE) (English) LAWRENCE POOE, CLIENT, SAYING: "They do charge a lot but at the end of the day it's my wish." VARIOUS OF CEMETERY FLOWERS CARLGRO M3 CEO, WIKUS LATEGAN, WALKING AROUND THE CEMETERY GEESE POND / TOMBSTONE (SOUNDBITE) (English) WIKUS LATEGAN, CALGRO M3 CEO, SAYING: "If you look at more affluent people in South Africa, they typically cremate. It's the people that theoretically, on normal cause shouldn't be able to afford this that do afford this. Because this is such a cultural celebration of life, they would like to do the best for their loved ones that passed away." VARIOUS OF GOVERNMENT-OWNED AVALON CEMETERY TOWNSHIP HOUSES OVERLOOKING NASREC CEMETERY VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING ON THE ROADSIDE/CARS DRIVING PAST (SOUNDBITE) (English and Zulu) LOCAL RESIDENT WHO LIVES NEAR THE NASREC CEMETERY, MDUDUZI MOLEFE, SAYING: "It's not for me because it's the last resting place. So why must it be expensive, you understand? I mean when you're dead there's no reason to be buried in a place that costs so much money while I could have been enjoying that money while I'm still alive." WOMAN WITH BABY WALKING ON THE SIDEWALK CAR DRIVING / GOATS WALKING ALONG THE ROAD (SOUNDBITE) (English) LEBOGENG MATOLA, JOHANNESBURG RESIDENT, SAYING: "I was born actually in a village in North-West where we have our own designated area where we bury our own people. In other words, the clan has its own burial site and we own the land so the burial site is actually for free as opposed to me actually paying ten thousand (rands) for it. I actually would not pay ten thousand personally." VARIOUS OF TOMBSTONES IN NASREC MEMORIAL PARK CEMETERY
- Embargoed: 6th November 2019 12:48
- Keywords: Calgro M3 designer graveyards Nasrec Memorial Park Cemetery Avalon Cemetery
- Location: JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
- City: JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
- Country: South Africa
- Topics: Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA001B2BIMAF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Lawrence Pooe buried his cousin last month. He's back at the Nasrec Memorial Park Cemetery, this time, to pick a resting place for himself.
"I decided to buy a plot here because recently two months back I buried my cousin here, so I fell in love with this place. So I decided that I want to be buried here as well," Pooe says.
Pooe paid 25,000 South African rand (around US$1700) for the plot.
A Johannesburg Stock Exchange listed company, Calgro M3, offers Pooe - and other individuals who can afford it - a luxurious alternative for burying their loved ones.
Grave plots at the Nasrec Memorial Park, range from 24,500 rand to 360,000 rand, for an eight-person family plot with extra features such as plants and benches.
Memorial Park Cemetery in Soweto is one of five cemeteries owned by the company, whose fortunes are tied to land and housing.
The cemeteries are South Africa's designer graveyards with rippling dams, ponds, native flora and fauna - which reinforces divides between the country's haves and have-nots.
Aside from the luxury add-ons, Nasrec Memorial Park's owners claim they provide a well-maintained and safe space to bury and mourn loved ones in a country known for widespread crime, even in cemeteries.
Mourners have reported graveside muggings, ransacked cars, and even coffins dug up to be resold to unknowing customers.
Land, and who owns it, is a sensitive and contested topic - a quarter century after apartheid. The business of dying has split opinion too.
"If you look at more affluent people in South Africa, they typically cremate. It's the people that theoretically, on normal cause shouldn't be able to afford this that do afford this. Because this is such a cultural celebration of life, they would like to do the best for their loved ones that passed away," says Calgro M3 CEO, Wikus Lategan.
The plots can be paid for over time with no additional costs, which according to Lategan, makes them accessible to a wider market.
A burial plot at a public cemetery costs 3,000 rand (around US$200) on average.
But Avalon, one of South Africa's largest public cemeteries has reached full capacity. About 45 to 60 graves are being re-opened each week to allow for second burials at the cemetery which is located in Johannesburg, the country's economic hub.
Population growth, urban migration and an influx of foreign nationals are being touted as some of the reasons behind the lack of burial space.
Mduduzi Molefe, is unemployed and lives near Nasrec Memorial Park.
"Why must it be expensive, you understand? I mean when you're dead there's no reason to be buried in a place that costs so much money while I could have been enjoying that money while I'm still alive," he says.
Lebogeng Matola also lives in Johannesburg, but says he wishes to be taken back to his home town when dies.
"I was born actually in a village in North-West where we have our own designated area where we bury our own people. In other words, the clan has its own burial site and we own the land so the burial site is actually for free as opposed to me actually paying ten thousand (rands) for it. I actually would not pay ten thousand personally," he says.
A total of 18.9 million out of the country's 58.8 million people have funeral insurance, according to online comparison website, hippo.co.za.
An average funeral will involve a cow for slaughtering at about 6,000 rand. Undertaker fees are at about 4,000 rand. A tombstone can cost up to 7,000 rand and a casket for 8,000 rand, according to online insurance quotes. The unemployment rate is currently at 29 percent, according to official government statistics.
Despite the considerable cost, South African households can spend up to a year's salary on a funeral, according to research published in the University of Chicago Press.
(Shafiek Tassiem, Siyabonga Sishi, Sisipho Skweyiya) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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