Friends and family complain

Carl van der Riet

Chief Executive Officer

AVBOB Mutual Assurance Society Tshwane

10 July 2023

Dear Mr van der Riet

RE: AVBOB’S HANDLING OF THE MEMORIAL AND FUNERAL OF EUSEBIUS McKAISER

We, the undersigned, friends and relatives of the late Eusebius McKaiser, write to you today to communicate our disappointment with the way that your company handled his memorial service in Johannesburg on Tuesday 6 June, and his funeral service in Makhanda on Saturday 10 June. We demand from you that some form of reparation is made by your company to the bereaved, whom you have to date only undermined and avoided responding to directly.

We note the following in relation to the memorial service on Tuesday, 6 June:

● That AVBOB staff attempted to erect their banners on the Empire Place premises on the morning of the memorial to market its services to mourners;

● That AVBOB staff attempted to insert, and to charge the Nyanda-McKaiser family for branded tissues and water bottles at the proceedings;

● That these attempts to market your brand in the context of a highly public memorial service were not grounded in any consultation with friends or family, and in fact had to be firmly resisted by a number of us who were assisting in the organising;

● That the full cost for these proceedings was borne by Mr McKaiser’s widower, Nduduzo Nyanda, barring a small discount of 15% on some items, which were not itemized and which had little material impact on the overall bill.

● That two area managers were in attendance, interfering with the set-up in an unwelcome manner. We had already briefed the relevant AVBOB person, from whom we had met with resistance when we insisted on reducing the visible AVBOB presence at the event. These people had no clear role at the memorial, other than (we assume) a marketing role.

We note the following in relation to the funeral service on Saturday, 10 June:

● That at the family viewing of the body on the evening of Friday 9 June at AVBOB in Makhanda Mr McKaiser’s cousin had to give her lip-gloss to the mortician to attempt to cover up second-rate cosmetic work which left Mr McKaiser’s lips looking cracked and dry;

● That the lining of the casket had been embroidered with a prominent AVBOB logo in full view of the family and all mourners at the public viewing the next day;

● That, at the New Cemetery in Makhanda on Saturday 10 June, without permission or discount, AVBOB-branded tents, tissues, water bottles and other paraphernalia were placed on-site in the cemetery, and that this brand positioning was not up for discussion or debate at any point in the lead-up to the proceedings;

● That pallbearers could not place the casket properly on the scaffolding, as the scaffolding was not made to the correct size by AVBOB, and that this created a chaotic and undignified struggle right at the beginning of proceedings. This was eventually remedied by mourners, who took matters into their own hands, as AVBOB staff was stumped not knowing what to do;

● That when the casket was finally placed on the scaffolding, the support structure failed, and that instead of being buried with dignity the casket with our friend and relative inside it crashed to the bottom of the grave, bringing parts of the scaffolding, graveside carpeting, and flowers tumbling in after it, to the immense distress of the congregation;

●  That throughout proceedings the staff of AVBOB Makhanda were slow to act, seemed confused by the various failings, and did not seem to have any other purpose for being on-site than to see that the AVBOB branding materials were prominently displayed;

● That the headstone of Mr McKaiser, without the permission of any friend or family member, has been engraved with the AVBOB logo and that no discount or quid pro quo was offered by the company to his widower, Mr Nyanda, for this brazen and shameless piece of marketing.

● Mr Nyanda had requested to have a word with the regional manager after the moving from the burial site and this never materialised. An investigation and report as to what happened was also requested from the regional manager and this is yet to be provided to Mr Nyanda. No direct communication has happened with him, despite this not being the case when payment was demanded on Friday 9 June 2023.

We further note that your spokesperson, Pieter van der Westhuizen, is quoted by the Sowetan newspaper in their 13 June story on a social media exposé of your actions published by Scott Burnett. He admits only to a “slight delay” in lowering the casket. Otherwise, in his opinion, AVBOB acted with integrity and professionalism. Given the facts of the matter, as laid out above, we find this response from van der Westhuizen to be both inaccurate and insulting.

He failed in his comments to address the fact that the coffin had been dropped, and instead chose to take a victim-blaming approach, saying that a ‘’special casket had to be built, which was done in a very short space of time to meet the short timelines and the family’s needs”.

The area manager was asked straight after the burial to come and speak to the family to apologise and explain what happened, but never showed up. Van der Westhuizen’s ‘apology’ was only provided once the story had made it into the media.

Van der Westhuizen also referred to the manic level of branding practised throughout proceedings by AVBOB as “standard practice” in the funeral industry. We reached out to a couple of your competitors to assess this claim. Two companies confirmed that they would never brand caskets or tombstones; one added that this would be “insensitive towards a grieving family”. Another said that when they provide branded tissues or water bottles that these are provided free of charge, and only with the family’s permission, as it is after all the undertakers’ company that benefits from these additions to proceedings.

So we reject your colleague’s claim that AVBOB is merely following “standard practice”, and suggest that it is instead the very arrogant practice of a supposed “industry leader”.

We therefore demand of you that you take the following reparative actions:

1. Replace the headstone with a new replica that does not have the AVBOB logo on it;

2. Issue a full refund to Nduduzo Nyanda for the costs of the funeral in Makhanda;

3. Publish a full apology to Nduduzo Nyanda and the McKaiser/Stevens families where you admit to the mistakes that were made, and commit to better business practice in future, especially when it comes to marketing and branding.

We hope that this series of events gives you pause for thought. In a recent interview in CEO magazine, you state that what AVBOB does for grieving people is “provide empathetic, comforting guidance” in a very vulnerable moment.

Our position is that your company exploits this vulnerability to sell financial services to the living, and that you provide neither comfort nor empathy. Your “guidance” is calculated to maximize your profitability, and your business model centres on marketing these services to grieving people, rather than comforting them.

We await your response. Yours sincerely,

Nduduzo Nyanda, Eusebius McKaiser's partner and

Scott Burnett, friend of Eusebius McKaiser, Assistant Professor, Pennsylvania State University

Vanita Daniels, friend of Eusebius McKaiser

Oliver Dickson, friend of Eusebius Mckaiser, Broadcaster @ SAfm, Columnist Joanne Joseph, friend of Eusebius Mckaiser, Broadcaster, Author

Sakina Kamwendo, friend of Eusebius McKaiser, Broadcaster, Anchor of Morning Live on SABC 2 & News Channel 404 & Anchor of Update @ Noon on SAfm

Megan Lubke, Executive Producer SABC News Morning Live, former producer for Eusebius McKaiser

Karyn Maughan, friend of Eusebius McKaiser, legal journalist. Sithembile Mbete