Threat to ‘shut down’ bank branches ‘unless Capitec pays for rituals’

An organisation representingfuneral practitionersin SA says Capitec should pay for rituals a KwaZulu-Natal family had to perform after they had to take the body of a dead relative to a Capitec bank branch after initially failing to receive a funeral payout. The Unification Task Team of the Funeral Industry of SA (UTT) has threatened to “shut down” all Capitec branches in SA unless the bank assists the family with money to finance the rituals. The demand comes after the family of Elizabeth Maliwa dumped her body inside a Capitec branch in KwaDukuza, north of Durban, last week.

The family says the bank failed to releasefuneral policy fundsin a timely fashion, and demanded to be shown proof of death. “What happened to that family was really uncalled for,“ said UTT spokesperson Mzikayise Hlengwa. “Their dignity was stripped away.

We will write to Capitec instructing them to fork out money for the cleansing and all the rituals the family now has to perform following the incident.” Following the body being dumped in full view of the public, the family has to perform several rituals in order for the soul of the departed to rest in peace, said Hlengwa. “As dictated by the African culture belief systems, the family must undergo a series of cleansing ceremonies for the deceased to rest. Capitec must take responsibility.” “In this case, the claim was paid within 24 hours of receiving the complete and valid documentation,” said Asha Patel, Capitec’s head of brand and communications.

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The Maliwa family told Sowetan that despite burying their loved one, they wanted justice for what had happened. “We had hoped for a decent funeral for my mother. This was the reason we took out the funeral policy.

But instead of her being given a dignified send-off, she suffered humiliation. “We do hope that one day we will receive justice for what happened,” said family spokesperson Thami Maliwa. Maliwa explained the family had taken out a R50,000 funeral policy with the bank.

“They did eventually pay us, but it was a little too late. They cannot undo the trauma we had to undergo as a family,” he said. Maliwa said the family would decide after the mourning period whether to take any legal action against Capitec.

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