A Bulawayo Member of Parliament has called on the Government to review operating licences issued to scores of funeral parlours in the city, accusing them of being negligent to the needs of the communities they purport to serve.
ZANU-PF MP for Pelandaba Constituency, Honourable Joe Tshuma charged that while many funeral parlours thrive on business from under-privileged members of the community who cannot afford more established service providers, their clients were not being afforded reasonable conditions of service.
He said the “fly-by-night” parlours were bleeding already marginalised communities but were failing to reciprocate when the same communities came short.
“It is sad that while they are making money from the less privileged members of our communities, many of the fly-by-night funeral parlours operating in Bulawayo have not shown the spirit of ubuntu,” lamented Hon. Tshuma in an interview with B Metro from Harare where he is attending Parliamentary business.
“We’ve had situations where families cannot raise the full cost of the services they need from the funeral parlours and ask for payment terms but they are being turned down leading to many families going to unimaginable lengths to bury their loved ones. I think the Government should review their operating licences and make sure that only the ones with Ubuntu and who have the capacity to provide these services are allowed to operate,” he added.
Hon. Tshuma’s concern comes amid reports that a local funeral parlour was accused of only caring about fleecing them of their hard-earned cash after it refused to assist a bereaved family with payment terms.
The parlour in question operates from Kelvin West came under fire after it was approached by a family that was struggling to pay in full for their services. The family in question visited the parlour and asked for extended payment terms after paying almost half of the required monies but were turned down. Hon Tshuma himself offered to act as a guarantor for the bereaved family to make sure that no additional costs were incurred by the family due to any delays in burial, but this fell on deaf ears.
Hon. Tshuma’s sentiments were echoed by a resident, Mr Mbonisi Mathe who accused the funeral parlours of being thieves and opportunists.
“Abantu laba abalandaba labantu kumbe lobuntu. Abantu bayahamba lezikhalazo zabo behle betshelwe ukuti bengekela ukubadala imali yestorage iyabe ifunakala for everyday abaphuza ukubeka umufi besadinga imali. (These funeral parlours don’t care about people. When people approach them with genuine problems, they turn them away and tell them that they will charge storage for each day they delay to pay and bury their relative),” the elderly Mr Mathe told B Metro.
