Pastor whose body stayed in morgue for 579 days awaiting resurrection finally buried

A South African pastor whose body was preserved in a morgue awaiting resurrection has finally been buried -  579 days later. 

Pastor Siva Moodley, 53, founder of The Miracle Centre church in Johannesburg, died on August 15, 2021 after a short illness. His body was taken to Martin’s Funeral Home in Fourways, Gauteng, where it has been since then. 

His family and members of the church, reports South African media, used to visit the funeral home to pray for his resurrection.

The church never openly acknowledged that Pastor Siva had died and kept his social media accounts, notably Facebook and Twitter, operational. 

Besides the active social media accounts, services at the church have been going on as normal, conducted by late pastor's wife Jessie, son David, and daughter Kathryn. The services are also live streamed on social media.

"Moodley has an international following and had a television programme called Your Miracle Moment. The programme was broadcasted on DStv through FaithTV and TBN Africa," wrote South African news outlet IOL. "Since April this year re-runs of the programme have been broadcast on Miracle TV+, a streaming service. New episodes of the programme only feature Jessie and David."

Fellow Pastor Prem Terry Jugdeo had called on the family to face the truth and accord the late pastor a decent burial. 

"His family and church members have not respected the death of a great person but believed in the resurrection of this servant of God. His wife and children continue as normal. They need to be honest and not hide away from the facts," he said.

Du Toit, the manager of the funeral home has lodged an application with the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court to grant him permission to have Moodley buried or cremated.