Bulelwa Maphela, Eyitayo Francis Adanlawo
ABSTRACT
Reliable statistics on the numbers of births and deaths are vital for social and economic planning across the public and private sectors. Since COVID-19, the registration of death has been prioritized, where the emerging undertakers have a separate queue in Home Affairs offices to register the death. This article seeks to establish if there could be a way of easing the load of emerging funeral directors with death registration through digitalisation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of emerging funeral directors to lay the groundwork for future questions and develop a theoretical background. Microsoft Word was used for data analysis, and the codes were later exported into a table in Microsoft Excel with the help of a custom macro. The study reveals that emerging funeral directors in South Africa face significant challenges due to a lack of government support, arduous registration processes, outdated systems, and racial bias. These barriers hinder their ability to efficiently register deaths and grow their businesses, impacting their competitiveness and service quality. The study concludes that the effects of digitalization cannot be predetermined, nor is it clear whether digitalization can be considered as progress in some societies. The study recommends, among other things, The implementation of a comprehensive digital transformation strategy, whereby the Department of Home Affairs should develop and implement a comprehensive digital transformation strategy for the death registration process in order to enhance service delivery and client satisfaction and improve the overall efficiency and security of the death registration process.
