Funeral association: We’re left with little choice but to force govt to listen
Directors affiliated to African Funeral Directors Association (Afpo) have embarked on a three-day national strike demanding that the outsourcing of mortuary facilities be recognised and legalised among other things.
by Edwin NtshidiJOHANNESBURG - The African Funeral Directors Association (Afpo) said it’s been left with little choice but to force government to listen to them.
Directors affiliated to Afpo have embarked on a three-day national strike demanding that the outsourcing of mortuary facilities be recognised and legalised among other things.
The organisation's members marched to the Union Buildings last year to hand over a memorandum of demands and they said government was yet to respond.
The strike by funeral parlour directors took effect with the Helen Joseph Hospital among facilities affected.
The facility is usually busy with families collecting the bodies of their loved ones, but since Monday morning, not a single car from undertakers had arrived.
At the Rahima Moosa Hospital, only one van from a Diepsloot funeral parlour was seen picking up a body.
The Avbob facility in Milpark appeared to have also been affected by the strike.
One of the most affected facilities was the Hillbrow Government Mortuary.
Members of the organisation camped outside the building to ensure the facility did not operate.
The association’s Nkosi Kwineke Nare explained: “We are in this area in the Johannesburg Forensic Pathology, all industry funeral players complied to the call to stay away.”'
Earlier there was a commotion at the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital Mortuary where striking workers ensured that no bodies were collected.