Sanlam Settles Funeral Settlement

September 1 - While funeral insurance is usually the simplest form of insurance around, with benefactors simply having to provide a death certificate to receive a payout, in the case of Themba Hlela things took a little longer than usual. Three years too long, in fact.

Hlela took out funeral insurance for his late mother through Sanlam, one of South Africa's largest insurance companies. When Mrs. Hlela passed away in 2005, her son applied for a death certificate from home affairs so that he could apply for an insurance payout. Without a certificate, Sanlam was unable to pay the money due to Hlela.

However, Themba Hlela soon found himself needing to take out a loan to cover his mother's funeral after Sanlam refused to pay out the insurance because home affairs could not produce an original death certificate - only an abridged one. The reason: His mother's identity number did not correspond with the identity number that was on record at home affairs.

Hlela was flabbergasted with the reasoning. "I found the explanation really strange. They were the ones who issued the identity document to my mother, but they could not rectify the error," he said.

After writing several letters to home affairs, Hlela was finally told in August last year that the identity number had indeed been confirmed but, unfortunately, the much needed document could still not be issued.

Although Sanlam was presented with the letter, the insurance company still refused to pay out the policy, insisting that a death certificate was the only way that Hlela would be able to receive the money.

Frustrated with a case that was now dragging into its third year, the consumer contacted Hotline, which referred the case to higher powers. Finally, after intense investigations into the matter, Hlela was advised that a death certificate was waiting for him at the local home affairs office and he could finally claim the payout that was rightfully his.