mbalenhle K

lack of professionalism, poor communication, and disorganization

Firstly, there was a significant lack of communication from the funeral planner, Mr. Makamu. Despite repeated attempts to obtain key information such as the scheduled time for the funeral, I received no response. Additionally, I was informed about optional funeral upgrades, such as tents and toilets, only after the services were completed and the pricing had already been settled, which caused unnecessary confusion and disappointment. Secondly, the handling of the body was profoundly unprofessional. The body was scheduled to be delivered at 3 PM; however, it arrived three hours late. We had to personally fetch the driver about 10 km away because he was lost due to the inability to afford airtime for Google Maps. This negligence caused unnecessary stress during an already difficult time. Furthermore, the funeral service itself was poorly coordinated. The service was scheduled from 11:00 AM to 1:30 PM at the graveside, but the he**** only arrived after 2:00 PM. This delay was due to Makamu’s failure to allocate drivers for the funeral, which disrupted the entire schedule. When we arrived at the gravesite, we found that the grave was flooded with approximately one meter of water. We had to improvise by bringing buckets and work suits to manually remove the water, as no one had checked the grave beforehand. This oversight displayed a lack of preparation and care. Additionally, although our funeral package included tents, gazebos, and walk mats at the graveside, we found these being used by another funeral service. The supervisor and he**** driver merely stated there was nothing they could do, and we were forced to wait at the back of the tent. To make matters worse, Makamu did not have any coffin lowering device available, and we along with Makamu’s supervisor had to borrow equipment from another funeral parlor at the grave, rushing through the process due to time constraints. We never had time to mourn, as we were micromanaging the entire Makamu’s team. Makamu’s funeral services was below-par even as per the minim standard set by FIRA (Funeral Industry Regulatory Authority) and the SA Government Code of conduct for funeral service Practitioners.