By Own Correspondent- Government has dismissed claims that a Zimbabwean man was “resurrected” by a DRC born pastor in South Africa as his body was being brought home, revealing that no repatriation papers had been processed to support the claims.
Zimbabwe’s Consul General to South Africa Batiraishe Mukonoweshuro set the record straight in an interview with a local publication following claims by pastor Alph Lukau, of the Alleluia International Ministries church on Sunday that he had “resurrected” a Zimbabwean who had died on Friday in Johannesburg.
During a service at his church in Sandton, Johannesburg on Sunday, Lukau said the family of the deceased man decided to stop over for a few minutes before heading to Zimbabwe with the body.
In the video circulating on social media, Lukau is seen touching the deceased man in a coffin who is dressed in all white and after a few utterances the dead man sits up with his mouth wide open while church members jump in jubilation.
Lukau then continues “speaking in tongues.”
“Can you see what happened? This man died since Friday, he was in the mortuary,” he told cheering congregants.
“This is a sign that no matter what the devil’s done, it is over. Devil, I told you, wherever I find you, I will kick you.”
The alleged Sunday miracle has received criticism from all angles and has attracted a lawsuit from a funeral parlour.
In what has been widely dismissed as a poorly staged miracle, a Kings and Queens Funeral Services hearse was used to carry the coffin from an unknown house to Sandton where the church service was conducted.
The “resurrected” man has not yet been identified officially, but some reports claimed that he was named Elliot.
However, Mukonoweshuro, who signs repatriation letters for locals who die in the neighbouring country said he was not in possession of papers clearing any Zimbabwean to be repatriated on Sunday from South Africa.
He said as the man was said to have died last Friday, there was no way the body could have been repatriated on Sunday as the whole process could only be done during weekdays. He said repatriating a body involves a lot of processes that cannot take less than three weekdays.-StateMedia