Bid to lease Mobeni crematorium

THE KwaZulu-Natal Funeral Directors’ Association has made an application to lease the Mobeni Heights Crematorium for the next 99 years.

Having had their calls for the upkeep of the crematorium falling on deaf ears, five association members have drawn up a letter, through their lawyers, Vinay Govender and Associates, for the lease. Association president Logan Chetty, pictured, said the crematorium was dilapidated and they wanted to “turn it around”.

“The community is suffering. These furnaces are often not in working order. Instead of having to cremate their loved ones close to their homes, they have to travel as far as Clare Estate.”

He said the private Clare Estate Crematorium currently had its hands full, with about 20 cremations a day.

“We requested to lease the Mobeni Heights crematorium, so we can refurbish and maintain the furnaces and oversee the running of the day-to-day operations.”

Chetty said funerals were expensive and to get the facility operational would ease the financial burden on many families, who had to travel far for cremations.

He handed over the letter of motivation to eThekwini city manager, Sipho Nzuza, last week. It reads: “Grieving families should be granted peace and tranquillity, instead they are faced with the inconvenience due to the non-availability of Mobeni and the overloaded schedule at Clare Estate, not to mention the added cost of travelling to further venues.

“Our clients humbly request, that the municipality considers, in the spirit of the president’s ‘thuma mina’ campaign, entering into a public-private partnership with our clients to deliver the essential service of crematoriums to the public.”

The City did not respond to questions at the time of going to press.