Pastor’s body lay in garage waiting to be ‘resurrected’

Soweto minister told congregants she would rise from the dead in seven days

Police have intervened in another case of a pastor who expected, like the biblical Lazarus, to be raised from the dead.

Yesterday they removed the body of a 46-year-old woman pastor during a raid on a house in Rockville, Soweto.

It was in an advanced stage of decomposition.

She died two months ago. According to members of her congregation, she asked that her body not be buried because she would “wake up” after seven days.

After receiving a tip-off, police raided the house – which doubled as a church – and found her remains in the garage.

Soweto police spokesperson Captain Mbazima Shiburi said police were refused entry to the house two months ago because the owners had demanded a search warrant.

“At the time, we did not have a strong enough case and therefore could not obtain a warrant,” Shiburi said.

Police had been told by an informer that the pastor’s body was being stored at the house.

Police then placed the premises under surveillance.

Yesterday, they received another tip-off confirming their suspicions and were able to obtain a search warrant.

Shiburi said that when police produced the warrant, a woman at the house asked for two minutes to pray before allowing investigators to enter.

“We found the body lying on the floor in the garage. It was not even a body; it was more like bones because it had decomposed very badly,” Shiburi said.

As police officers carried away the woman’s remains, a crowd of curious onlookers gathered.

This is the second incident in which people have kept the bodies of their religious leaders because they predicted their resurrection.

Two months ago – the same time the Soweto pastor died – the Free State town of Hertzogville watched as a local pastor’s family kept his body for more than 70 days in the belief that he would rise from the dead.

The body of Paul Meintjes was kept at a local mortuary for more than a month, and eventually at the family home, after self-proclaimed prophet David Francis predicted that Meintjes would rise from the dead.

After 70 days the police were forced to step in and remove the body for health reasons.

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