South African authorities will bury a 77-year-old man who has been dead seven weeks despite his family saying a "prophet" had promised them he would be resurrected, police said on Tuesday. Paul Meintjes's body was returned to his family late last week after the local mortuary refused to store it any longer.
| "You gotta come pick this up. It's starting to stink." |
The body was kept in his widow's bedroom at their Free State home for three days before officials said it was a health risk and ordered it taken to the state morgue. "The body is OK -- it is still recognizable," police spokesman Sam Makhele told Reuters by telephone from Bloemfontein. "But after a few days out of the fridge the smell was not OK." Police had obtained permission from a magistrate to bury the corpse, he said. This would happen in the next 24 hours. The family did not oppose the move in court, Makhele said, adding that the family would not be allowed to attend the funeral because the cost would be met by local authorities.
| You wanna pray, you gotta pay. |
Meintjes died on July 1 but has been in South African newspaper headlines ever since, with his family at loggerheads with other members of their small farming community over his anticipated resurrection -- several dates for which have come and gone. Police had no dealings with the Durban-based "prophet" and could give no more details about him, he said. South African media has named him as a former bank manager who has since gone to ground. |