South African undertakers say they are suffering financially because of changes introduced by the Road Accident Fund (RAF), which chooses which funeral houses to work with. The National Funeral Practitioners Association of Southern Africa‚ comprising about 300 members‚ said parlours have had to shut their doors since the RAF introduced a panel of preferred undertakers to conduct the funerals of accident victims. "When a family has claimed from RAF for the funeral of a relative who has died in an accident‚ the fund gives the family two choices — you either take the funeral parlour we are going to give you, or you conduct the funeral using a parlour of your choice, but [then] we are not going to pay for your claim‚" said association secretary-general, Nkosentsha Shezi. He said the panel was made up of just three undertakers. "Those three funeral parlours have one thing in common and that is that they are white-owned. We are not politicians. We are business people, but we are fighting ...
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