THE City of Johannesburg has approved a public participation process as part of the review of its social burial policy for indigent residents, saying the socio-economic conditions of the poor continues to deteriorate.
The policy applies to Joburg residents who are South Africans and to foreign nationals who are in the country legally and are documented.
Its social burial programmes offer assistance to cover the expenses associated with funeral services and cremation or facilitate the direct provision of these services.
According to the policy, the City of Johannesburg aims to create a framework to assist the indigent households that are unable to bury their family members in a humane and dignified manner.
The municipality states that its population now stands at 6,3 million, according to Statistics SA, and the Gauteng City Region Observatory states that nearly 14% are found in informal settlements.
In addition, the proportion of the urban population residing below the established poverty threshold in Joburg has experienced a gradual rise, reaching about 52,2% currently.
Nearly 48% of Joburg’s population is experiencing unemployment while the earnings of the remaining 52% are distributed somewhat unequally across various socio-economic levels.
”In the city, there is a correlation between inequality, low income levels, and lack of affordability to access key services. Many households are occupied by indigent individuals and (there are) child-headed households, which are unable to generate a liveable income, forcing them to live in dreadful socio-economic conditions,” the municipality explained.
As a result of these dire living conditions, many indigent households are unable to afford healthcare and funeral costs.
And due to poverty, expenses associated with both the cost of living and funeral arrangements become too onerous on the indigent families.
To qualify, in terms of the policy, residents will require a referral letter by a councillor in their area.
Social workers will make socio-economic assessments and relatives must declare that the deceased person did not have a funeral insurance policy and that the deceased was not covered through a funeral insurance policy by any family or relatives and no next-of-kin or that a relative can pay for the burial or cremation costs.
Additionally, it must be determined that there are no religious or welfare organisations that have offered to pay for the burial or cremation costs.
The city has warned that should it later be discovered that the deceased person was covered through funeral insurance policies, it will recover the costs of burial from the policyholder.
”In instances of fraud or non-disclosure whereby people are avoiding taking responsibility for the burial of their family members and applying for social burial pleading poverty, the city may institute criminal proceedings as it may deem fit,” the municipality stated.
Contracted undertakers will not be allowed to issue out documents to applicants who want to claim from policies after a social burial has been conducted.
”To protect the abuse of the city’s resources from people who would declare poverty but have the means to request documents from contracted undertakers, the assistance will be considered null and void and the burial costs will be recovered from both the contracted undertaker and the family,” the policy provides.