Maputo city approves major hikes in cemetery, burial costs

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Maputo city approves major hikes in cemetery, burial costs

2:10 CAT | 06 Aug 2021

After the extension of the deadline to regularise payments for graves and vaults, residents of Maputo city have now learned that they will soon have to pay more to bury their loved ones.

This Wednesday, ten years after the previous update, Maputo Municipal Assembly approved a new municipal decree on cemeteries and funerals.

The new rates are as follows.

The cost of reserving a space for burial increases from 1,500 to 4,500 meticais.

Grave identification plates, which used to cost 100 meticais, have gone up to 400 meticais.

The cost of cremation increases from 500 to 5,000 meticais.

The exhumation of bodies has risen from 1,000 to 2,500 meticais.

Even the linings of the graves have new prices.

The license to build a cement grave, which used to cost 1,000 meticais, changes to 1,500 meticais.

If the tomb is finished in marble, the price rises from the current 2,000 to 3,000 meticais.

Those who want a vault [jazigo] will find the cost has increased from 5,000 to 10,000 meticais.

The decree was approved by the majority bench in the Municipal Assembly on the 4th of August, replacing regime 76/AM/2011 of the 26th of October, which, according to Municipal Director of Morgues and Cemeteries, Hélder Muando, had needed an update for some time.

Several community consultations held

“After ten years, verifying the evolution, in terms of development of the Municipality of Maputo and the adequacy of the new operating rules in terms of cemetery management, taking into account the emergence of pathologies (burials in cases of infectious diseases), we have seen the need to produce a document that fits the current reality,” Muando explained.

Muando said that the new decree was conceived looking at the reality and interest of the residents of Maputo, and argues that several community consultations were held.

“Throughout the ten years’ validity of the previous municipal decree, we always carried out field activities, where we sought the feelings of citizens regarding the management of cemeteries,” Muando said.

The previous rates were based on the minimum wage of ten years ago, Muando detailed. Things had changed and an update was needed.

“The rates of the posture approved in 2011 were fixed based on a percentage of the minimum wage and this consistency was maintained in the application of the new rates. That is why there was no change that will harm the citizen,” he asserted.

“During our field work, some residents were indicating the rates that were a burden to them and that they wanted to be maintained, and we did so,” Muando stressed. Citizens who are unable to pay the expenses can be exempted from payment upon presentation of a poverty certificate.

‘Commodification’ of human dignity, says MDM

The Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM) bench in the Municipal Assembly has distanced itself from the changes, considering the decision absurd and inappropriate, taking into account the number of deaths that Maputo is registering as a result of Covid-19.

“The rate increase ranges from 100 percent to 1,500 percent, and are based on the highest minimum wage (12,760,18 MZN). This means that, in future, a funeral will only be possible upon payment of 1,500 meticais, among other fees. This is absurd considering that 80% of the citizens of Maputo city live in poverty, in addition to the fact that for two years there has been no adjustment to the minimum wage,” MDM spokesperson Augusto Mbazo remarked.

The municipality was, he added, taking advantage of current circumstances, the city of Maputo in particular, to collect more revenue, which, according to him, reveals a cold and inhumane municipal council.

“The desperation of the Municipal Council to collect revenue at any cost, has reached immoral levels, absolutely unethical, in effect ‘commodifying’ human essence and dignity. The rates provided for in the decree represent disrespect to bereaved families and transform what is essentially a social service into an income-earning activity.”

The newly approved municipal decree will enter into force 15 days after its publication in the Government Gazette [Boletim da República].

By Inalcide Uamusse