Ending HIV/AIDS Discrimination in the Funeral Insurance Sector and Mobilisation for Funeral Insurance Co-Operatives

25 Agust 2003

The Finance Sector Coalition, made up of over 50 organisations including the South African Communist Party, COSATU, the AIDS Consortium, the Treatment Action Campaign, the AIDS Law Project and Black Sash are launching a campaign to end discrimination by funeral insurance companies on the basis of a person’s HIV status and to to promote funeral insurance co-operatives.

We have received many complaints from communities we work in, against AVBOB. Claims on policies taken out with AVBOB have been repudiated at the time of families needing to bury their loved ones. Other families were being asked to pay back after “investigations” carried out by AVBOB revealed that the person could have died of AIDS related illnesses.

For these reasons, the coalition will be holding a picket outside the offices of AVBOB in Braamfontein
(Tuesday, 26 August, 12h30 - 14h00, Sable Centre, Jorissen and Station Street, Braamfontein)

AVBOB claims that with effect from 01 August 2003 it has drastically changed its policy. AVBOB has agreed to make a press statement to this effect giving more details as to what these changes are and how they impact on people living with HIV and their ability to take out a funeral cover policy with AVBOB.

We will be handing over a memorandum to AVBOB management and calling upon all other companies which offer financial services to stop unfair discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS by following the example of AVBOB. The memorandum will name some of these companies in the Finance sector, which are currently guilty of such discriminatory practices, and announcing plans to target them in the coming period.

We urge AVBOB to do the following:

To ensure that a special effort is made to update poor communities about this development.
To allow current policyholders to have a reasonable period to update their old policies that contained discriminatory clauses including the exclusion clause and the disclosure clause.
To also announce clear times frames allowing for the phasing out of the old policy.

We call on all South Africans to work together to ensure that funeral insurance co-operatives are built as an altyernative to private companies and as a means to economically empower working class communities. The Coalition welcomes the establishment of the South African Federation of Burial Societies which seeks to work towards unifying burial societies, and building their bargaining power against pressure from private companies and building funeral insurance co-operatives.

For more information please contact:

Mazibuko K. Jara – SACP
E-mail: mazibuko@sacp.org.za
Ph:011 339 3621
Mobile: 072 275 4723

Mark Heywood – Treatment Action Campaign
E-mail heywoodm@law.wits.ac.za
Ph: 0117178634
Mobile: 083 6348806

Sharon Ekambaram AIDS Consortium
E-mail shasha@netactive.co.za
Ph: 012 650 0270
Mobile: 083 63 48924

Tebogo Phadu - SA Federation of Burial Societies
Mobile: 083 601 43797