{"id":861216,"date":"2026-05-24T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=861216"},"modified":"2026-05-22T15:54:04","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T13:54:04","slug":"another-new-mafia-in-south-africa-targeting-a-r10-billion-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/861216\/another-new-mafia-in-south-africa-targeting-a-r10-billion-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Another new mafia in South Africa targeting a R10 billion industry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africa\u2019s funeral industry, estimated to be worth billions of rands annually, is increasingly being targeted by mafia-style criminal groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking in an interview with The Money Show<\/a>, South African Funeral Practitioners Association (SAFPA) president Nomfundo Mcoyi-Zondo said the scale of the problem has grown significantly over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She noted that South Africa has more than 20,000 funeral parlours currently operating across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, not all are legal, and there is mounting concern about organised criminal activity in South Africa\u2019s funeral industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes fraudulent funeral policies, intimidation, illegal body removals, and unregistered operators targeting vulnerable communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has become a lucrative business for criminals, considering the sector has become a major economic force in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funeral cover is among the country\u2019s most widely held insurance products, and the broader funeral economy is estimated to exceed R10 billion annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Mcoyi-Zondo stressed that many operators labelled \u201cillegal\u201d should rather be referred to as \u201cunauthorised funeral operators\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mcoyi-Zondo explained that many smaller operators are operating without the full set of regulatory documents required to operate legally, often due to bureaucratic hurdles and compliance challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just that they don\u2019t have certain documents to operate. Maybe they are still struggling due to regulations, due to a lot of reasons,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mcoyi-Zondo acknowledged that there is a distinction between operators who simply lack paperwork and those who may pose risks to the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something that can be illegal, in other words, they haven\u2019t complied with regulations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, some are not welcome, and they can also be unsafe. In other words, they don\u2019t have the refrigeration facilities, and use intimidation, and bury people in unauthorised areas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To tackle these problems, SAFPA and other industry bodies are trying to professionalise the sector through training, mentoring, and collaboration with government departments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have created associations like the one I come from, so that we come together and make sure that we regulate, we mentor, we guide, we train,\u201d Mcoyi-Zondo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New innovations are coming for the industry<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Nomfundo Mcoyi-Zondo, President of the South African Funeral Practitioners Association.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

She added that the industry is working closely with departments including Home Affairs, SARS, and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) to improve compliance and reduce opportunities for abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mcoyi-Zondo also argued that regulators need to engage directly with funeral practitioners to reduce unnecessary red tape while still protecting consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond criminality and compliance concerns, the funeral industry is also grappling with broader structural challenges, including land shortages for burials and changing consumer expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mcoyi-Zondo said the sector is increasingly exploring alternative burial methods, including cremation and aquamation, which uses water instead of traditional burial or flame cremation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Mcoyi-Zondo, only one company in South Africa currently offers aquamation services, and the industry is pushing the government to support wider adoption of greener burial technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need to make sure that we talk to the government to avail finances and funding for getting more aquamation machines so that our people can be buried in a different way that is more green as well,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The industry is also seeing rapid technological and cultural changes, including virtual funerals and digital systems introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe saw a lot of funerals done virtually, where people could not attend, and people are loving that,\u201d Mcoyi-Zondo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of innovation that we will be talking to and introducing people to, and a lot of compliance that we will be talking to as well, and a lot of training as well, because we need to professionalise the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa\u2019s funeral industry, estimated to be worth billions of rands annually, is increasingly being targeted by mafia-style criminal groups.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":861222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876,1],"tags":[25468,853,25467],"class_list":["post-861216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-trending","tag-funeral-parlours","tag-south-africa","tag-south-african-funeral-practitioners-association-safpa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=861216"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":861236,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861216\/revisions\/861236"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/861222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}