⁍ Funeral workers are striking in the country over changes to a host of procedures and regulations.

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⁍ They say make it hard for small, black-owned parlors to operate and give big players an advantage.

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⁍ They want a COVID-19 relief fund to help the industry cope with the pandemic.

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– Grieving South African families are being left searching for someone to collect the bodies of deceased relatives after funeral parlors like Hloni Swarts’ went on strike in a country with one of the world’s highest coronavirus rates. Swarts, owner of Hloni Funerals, told Reuters he had to tell distressed families, “There’s nothing we can do.” He tried to help them arrange for a stretched government service to collect bodies instead, but they still complained. Funeral workers are striking in the country over changes to a host of procedures and regulations, including some introduced in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, that they say make it hard for small, black-owned parlors to operate and give big players an advantage. They want a COVID-19 relief fund to help the industry cope with the pandemic. The Department of Health warned that the strike posed a public health risk in a country with over 650,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and around 15,500 deaths.