Family of S. African pastor who failed to resurrect from the dead as promised, owes funeral home 3.3m

By Hans Ngala

JOHANNESBURG – The family of a South African pastor whose corpse was kept at a funeral home for over a year owes the undertaker R100,000 (about 3.3 Million CFA) for the storage of the corpse and related costs.

According to media reports, Pastor Siva Moodley died in August 2021 but his wife “had a vision that he would be resurrected” and the family therefore decided to keep his body in a Johannesburg mortuary, waiting for his return to life.

However, after waiting for nearly 600 days during which the family refused to answer calls from the funeral home to come and claim his body for burial to avoid an environmental hazard, the body was finally buried this week at a cemetery in Johannesburg. But the funeral home is also suing the family for legal costs as the Gauteng High Court had to be approached by the funeral home for permission to bury Moodley’s body and related costs in transporting it came up to nearly 3.3 Million CFA.

According to media reports, “Despite Moodley’s death in 2021, his social media pages remained active. Reports indicate that the church did not publicly acknowledge his passing on social media or inform the congregation of his whereabouts. Services continued as usual after his death, with his wife, Jessie, son, David, and daughter, Kathryn Jade, leading them.”

It is also reported that Moodley’s wife and children did not attend his dignified (but quiet) funeral , still holding on to their belief that he would rise from the dead perhaps.