IN MEMORIAM

In Memory of Our Founder, Reuben Sekwele

A Pioneer. A Visionary. A Father.

It is with heavy hearts, but hearts also full of gratitude, that we honour the life and legacy of Reuben Sekwele, founder of FIS Funerals, who passed away on 12 March 2026.

Long before FIS Funerals became a name families trusted, Reuben's journey began in the world of music and media. Before 1994, he worked as a music promoter, building his early career alongside a role as a Production Manager at the SABC – years spent close to the pulse of culture and community. His very first business venture, though, was closer to home: he owned and ran a tavern in Meadowlands, Soweto, a gathering place for the community long before it became a business empire. Then, in 1994, as South Africa entered its new democracy, Reuben took that same entrepreneurial instinct further, founding what would become the Rubbytad Group of Companies, starting with a single contract to supply and transport coal to the Department of Health in Limpopo.

What followed was a career few could have imagined for themselves, let alone built. Under Reuben's leadership, Rubbytad grew into a business spanning utilities meter reading and smart metering technology, property development, tourism, and – closest to his heart – funeral care and funeral insurance. At its height, the group he founded employed more than 130 people and operated a fleet of over 70 vehicles. Few entrepreneurs cross so many industries in one lifetime. Reuben did – and he built it from nothing, at a time when the doors that should have been open to him so often were not.

It was in funeral care that Reuben found his deepest calling. At a time when funeral cover and dignified funeral services for so many families were fragmented, hard to access, and harder still to trust, he had the vision to bring it all under one roof – a home that could walk with a family from the day they took out a policy, through their moment of greatest need, to the day a headstone was placed and a name was remembered. That vision became FIS Funerals, a name that, over the years, thousands of families came to trust.

He was, above all, a family man. Reuben was a devoted father to ten children, eight of whom survive him, and he carried that same devotion into every home he served. Those who knew him will remember a man who treated every grieving family as his own – patient, present, and unwavering in his belief that everyone deserves to be laid to rest with dignity, and every family deserves to be cared for like family.

To our clients, our policyholders, and everyone Reuben has had the privilege of serving across more than three decades in business: thank you for the trust you placed in him, and in us. His legacy lives on in every family we continue to serve, and in the team he built and leaves behind – a team committed to carrying forward the same values he lived by.

Rest well, Reuben. Your work continues.

With love and gratitude,
The FIS Funerals Family

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