Description

A death must be reported to a person authorised to receive such notices. A death can be reported to one of the following people:

• specific members of the Department of Home Affairs
• SAPS members, especially in areas where Home Affairs has no offices
• funeral undertakers appointed and recognised in terms of the law.

Steps to follow

• The medical practitioner who has examined the body of a deceased must:
  • complete a certificate of cause of death BI-1663
  • hand it to the deceased’s closest available next-of-kin, or to the funeral undertaker responsible for the funeral arrangements
  • seal page 2 of the application form BI-1663.
• If there is no medical practitioner available, e.g. in remote rural areas, then a traditional leader will complete a Death Report (form BI-1680).
• The next-of-kin must then take the documentation to the funeral undertaker who will handle the funeral arrangements.
• If the funeral undertaker is authorised to receive notices of death, to complete death registers and to issue burial orders, the undertaker will:
  • complete the appropriate sections of the BI-1663
  • issue a burial order
  • take the completed form to a Home Affairs office for registration of the death and issuing of a death certificate
  • transmit the death certificate to the next-of-kin.
• If the funeral undertaker is not authorised to receive notices of death, he or she may only complete part C of form BI-1663.
• The next-of-kin or the funeral undertaker must then submit the documentation to any Home Affairs office (or if there is no Home Affairs office in the area, to any branch of the SAPS) for issuing of a burial order and further processing of the registration documentation.
• If a South African citizen or permanent residence holder dies outside of South Africa, that person’s death must be reported to the nearest South African embassy or mission. A certified copy of the death certificate issued by the foreign country concerned must also be submitted.

Legal framework

Births and Death Registration Act, 1992 (Act 51 of 1992)

Service standard

An abridged death certificate is issued on the same day that the application is received.

Cost

• Register a death: The service is free
  
• Abridged death certificate: R15
• Unabridged death certificate: R70

Forms to complete

(Forms are provided in PDF format. To open PDF documents, you need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader 4 or higher installed on your computer.)

• Register a death,BI-132
• *Certificate of cause of death, BI-1663
• *Death report, BI-1680
• *Burial order, BI-14

Note: *Special specifications and requirements regarding the processing of this form apply and it may therefore not be downloaded for use as an application or registration form. All forms are available at any regional or district office of the Department.

Contact details