The National Funeral Practitioners Association says the constant load shedding is making it difficult for people to bury their loved ones within the recommended four-day period. 

The planned power cuts are causing havoc in the funeral industry, which is struggling to process corpses. 

Families have been urged to bury their loved ones within four days of their death to avoid possible decaying.

But the association’s Dududu Maganu says mortuaries should have backup systems for when load shedding hits. 

“With the decision of whether one is buried is not entirely made based on the heat or load shedding. It depends on the readiness of the family financially, particularly because of the financial implications attached to this on whether the family is able to pay for the funeral or the service. ” 

“So there’s a number of things that need to be looked at. Some families will be submitting claims and because of load shedding, those claims will no longer be processed between 24 and 48 hours. Some of them are being posted up to 72 hours or more.”