Cape Town - The National Funeral Practitioners Association of South Africa (Nafupa) says funeral parlours around the country are experiencing the ripple effect of the Nehawu wage strike after public servants downed tools, demanding improved wages.
Nafupa members said the strike was affecting them as government administrative staff were at departments such as home affairs and hospitals, were operating on reduced staff, causing delays for funeral parlours.
This comes after the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) embarked on a wage protest, demanding a 10% wage increase, while the government is only prepared to pay 4.7%.
The government and the union reached a 7% agreement on Wednesday.
Speaking to Lotus FM, Nafupa president Julie Mbuthuma said there has been a go-slow and backlogs at government mortuaries across most parts of the country.
Mbuthuma said that their clients were being compelled to put off making funeral arrangements, which has a negative financial impact on their businesses.
“We have got a go-slow in most parts of the country, where mortuary staff haven’t been attending to the undertakers on time, or their families for that matter.
“There are even cases where a person dies, like more than 48 hours and we haven’t been able to do a removal because of the go-slow,” Mbuthuma said.
Meanwhile, the DA in KwaZulu-Natal has laid criminal charges against Nehawu, alleging that their strike action resulted in the untimely death of a pregnant woman.
KZN DA leader Francois Rodgers told Lotus FM: “What we did last week in light of Nehawu’s illegal strike and their intimidation, we wrote to the MEC of Health and gave them 72 hours before we open up a case against Neh.
“So in light of that, we took it upon ourselves to go to SAPS and lay a charge. Because there have to be consequences, there has to be accountability. We can’t have unions having illegal strikes, infringe on the rights of law-abiding citizens.”
On Monday, Health Minister Joe Phaahla said health-care services nationwide were returning to normal, due to court interdicts taken out by various provinces.
The department said: “The situation has improved in many of the facilities as the police have heeded the court order and have come to ensure the safety of everyone, especially the non-striking workers to attend to their work responsibilities.”
IOL