Popular pastor Siva Moodley, whose family had kept his body in a morgue in the hope that he will be resurrected, has been finally laid to rest 579 days after he died.
The Citizen can confirm that the founder and leader of The Miracle Centre Ministry, north of Johannesburg, was laid to rest in a dignified funeral on Thursday morning.
Pictures posted on Facebook show a coffin with Moodley’s picture on top about to be lowered into a prepared grave. The pictures also show a pastor conducting the service in the presence of a small group of mourners.
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Martin’s Funeral Home, which has kept his body since he died on 15 August 2021, on Friday confirmed that the pastor was indeed laid to rest but would not share further details.
Family absent
Sources close to the matter told The Citizen that the pastor was only buried after his nephew intervened when the funeral parlour was about to obtain a high court order to have him given a pauper’s burial.
Christian journalist Solomon Izang Ashoms, who investigates fake pastors, confirmed that he had received a tip-off about the burial from a former church and was able to independently verify the information.
Finally earlier today, late Pastor Siva Moodley of Miracle Centre was buried after 579 Days at a mortuary in Jozi
He used to preach that “no Christian should die from sickness.”…..which is a false gospel..
Died August 2021 but his church and family believed he will raise pic.twitter.com/b2PhfXpyw4— Mo (@Mo_Magoda) March 16, 2023
“The funeral home got tired of him languishing in the morgue and was in the process and getting a court order for a pauper’s burial. This would have been granted if no family member had come forward to give him a proper burial,” he said.
Ashoms said Moodley’s wife, children and church members did not attend the funeral, suggesting that this was done without the immediate family’s blessings.
He said if it was not for the nephew’s intervention, the pastor would have not received a dignified funeral with a pastor and mourners.
Unwavering faith
Last September The Citizen reported how the pastor had been languishing in the funeral home in Fourways ever since his death, awaiting resurrection.
His death was never made public and his social media accounts were constantly being updated, reportedly by his wife Jessie, son David, and daughter Kathryn, as though he was still among the living.
It is yet to be established how much Moodley’s body has racked up in storage costs but an undertaker has put the cost to up to R250 a day.
Attempts to reach the family for comment have been unsuccessful, with nothing mentioned on the ministry’s website or social media pages.
Moodley reportedly taught and openly confessed that no Christian could die of sickness and prophesied that he could never die from Covid.
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