Life cover is one of the most over-sold products in financial services. Most working South Africans are carrying more cover than they need, on products that are more expensive than necessary, for reasons that were never clearly explained. Here's the short version of what's actually worth paying for.
What life cover is for.
The clean definition: life cover exists to replace the income your dependants would lose if you died. That's it. If no one depends on your income (no partner, no children, no one co-signed on debt with you), you probably don't need life cover at all, even though someone will try to sell it to you.
What you probably don't need.
Whole-of-life policies that "build cash value". These combine insurance and investment in one product. The insurance part is more expensive than equivalent term cover, and the investment part is usually worse than separate unit trusts. Buy cover for cover, and invest for investment. Separating them almost always wins.
Funeral cover for R100,000 at R400 a month. A funeral costs somewhere between R20,000 and R50,000. If you can pay R400 a month, you can save R400 a month, and in three to five years you'll have enough to pay for a funeral outright. Funeral cover is rarely a good deal for anyone who can comfortably afford the monthly premium.
What you probably do need.
Term life cover, sized to your actual dependants' needs. Enough to settle your debts (bond, credit) and replace your income for as long as your dependants genuinely need it (often until your youngest child is self-supporting). For most people in their 30s and 40s, this is a meaningful amount, but not the R5 million number some advisors will push.
Disability cover. Far more likely than death to affect your working years. It replaces income if you can't work due to illness or injury. Often under-sold because it's less dramatic to pitch. Also more useful.
A sanity check.
Add up all the cover you currently hold and the monthly premium. If it's more than 3-5% of your take-home pay, ask someone independent to review it. There's often R1,000-2,000 a month of savings available just from right-sizing the cover.