Not a good week to die in SA

Opinion - THIS week was not a good week to die in South Africa, because funeral parlour workers were on strike.

As a result, there was nobody to fetch a dead body or store it until it could be buried or cremated.

The official line was that owners of funeral parlours were not fighting their clients.

Their fight was with government which, they thought, had not done enough for them, especially during Covid-19.

But those most affected were those who had lost loved ones.

Initially, some undertakers said they would remain open. It included Ndabe Dignified Funerals in Durban.

The owner, Ndabe Ngcobo, made a fair point: “We are a caring association and can’t allow members of the society we serve to be part of our fight and the challenges between the industry and government.”

However, when protesters arrived at his business and threatened him, he had no choice but to close.

Even eThekwini, which has its own police unit to uphold the rule of law, decided to close the crematoriums it owns in Mobeni and Stellawood Cemetery. The privately operated facility in Clare Estate also closed.

While this week it was the funeral industry, last week protests by the EFF turned ugly. The political party embarked on mass action because it was angered by an advert Clicks had published. In the process, several stores were damaged. Staff and customers were also intimidated.

You can rest assured that more violence or the threat thereof will be meted out in the coming weeks. We see it when workers in the private and public sector go on strike and threaten those who want to work. In recent years municipal workers have grown fond of dumping rubbish or blocking roads with buses, inconveniencing the very taxpayers who contribute towards their salaries.

We’ve seen the destruction of property and intimidation at universities. We see it on the roads. On the sport fields. We see it in communities during service delivery protests. And, despite our best efforts, it continues in the home.

The use of violence to resolve conflict is not just a South African problem. It seems to be a part of our make-up as a species. Back in 1924 Winston Churchill noted that “the story of the human race is war”.

It is this history that made our transition in 1994 such a miracle. We decided to talk rather than fight. Unfortunately, since then we have done more fighting and less taking.

This month, as we reflect on our heritage, we need to relook at how we deal with conflict. It is clear we need to show greater respect towards one another and towards our differing opinions.

If not, we are condemning our children and grandchildren to an equally violent future.

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