Pastor Lakau

JOHANNESBURG - Incredible Happenings Church, Prophet Paseka Mboro Motsoeneng is expected to confront Pastor Alph Lukau following the 'resurrection' of a dead man.

Mboro says his visit to Lukau in Sandton on Thursday is about confronting the pastor for bringing Christianity into disrepute.

A video depicting Lukau raising a man from the dead went viral and sparked outage on social media.

In statement released on Wednesday Prophet Mboro is expected to plead with Lakau to turn from his evil ways and look to the Lord.

"No bona fide religious leader, in his right sense of mind and driven by the spirit of our Creator can attempt to pull such an antic for the sake of quick fame and cameras. And that trick has immediately backfired, with many civil society group denouncing Lukau, and other church leaders," he said.

Other religious leaders and the South African National Civic Organisation are expected to join Mboro as he heads to Alleluia Ministries International.

Alph Lukau's resurrection video has dominated headlines since Alleluia Ministries released footage of a "dead man" being brought "back to life". But now the church is backtracking on the "miracle", claiming that the man was already alive when the pastor got to the premises.

Sowetan is reporting that the church now states that Lakau "completed a miracle that God had already started".

The newspaper quotes church officials as insisting that the "dead" man, identified as Elliot, had already "come back to life" by the time the hearse reached the church.

"By the time the man of God (Lukau) got to him, he was already breathing," church pastor Rochelle Kombou told Sowetan.

The video has been widely shared on social media, with many condemning the church for "tricking" people

Several funeral parlours linked to the "miracle" have since distanced themselves from the incident, claiming they only sold a coffin and rented out their cars.

However, this has been disputed by the Funeral Industry Regulatory Authority. The organisation's Johan Rousseau said that several protocols were broken by selling the coffin and arranging a funeral service without a body and information from the morgue.

The funeral parlours have denied their involvement in the resurrection.

Rousseau has slammed the organisations, insisting the funeral industry in South Africa is unregulated, leading to many "lazarus moments".

The matter against two people charged with fraud in connection with a fake resurrection at Alleluia Ministries International has been postponed. 

Nkululeko Dlamini, 35 Silungisani Grace Sibanda, 40, appeared briefly at the Johannesburg Magistrate’s court on three charges of fraud. 

Dlamini appeared confused as he was brought into the dock, while Sibanda kept a stern look on her face. 

The state requested that the matter be postponed to verify Dlamini’s nationality after it was revealed that he was in possession of a Zimbabwean and a South African passport. 

Prosecutor Mzamo Mathe told the court that Dlamini’s South African passport indicated that he was born in the country. 

“Furthermore, the names on both passports do not correlate so we need to postpone the matter to understand who we are dealing with,” Mathe told the court. 

Mathe added that further arrests were expected to be made and that they were in possession of a warrant of arrest for one more suspect. 

The matter was postponed until April 26. 

Meanwhile, the National Prosecuting Authority’s spokeswoman Phindi Mjonondwane told the media that the church’s leader, Alph Lukau had not been arrested yet as investigations were ongoing. 

 

Asked whether the NPA was aware of reports that Eliot Moyo, the man who was “resurrected”, had died; Mjonondwane said: “we cannot comment on the matter because the South African Police Service are dealing with the investigations.” 

Police spokesperson Capt Mavela Masondo said in March that SAPS was investigating three cases of fraud opened in connection with the "resurrection" incident.

"One case was opened by a funeral parlour based here in Gauteng, another case was opened by people who said they were concerned citizens, and a third one was opened by pastor Mboro [Paseka Motsoeneng]," said Masondo.

Kings and Queens funeral parlour denied any knowledge of the deceased or selling the coffin to the church.

Brighton Moyo, the man falsely "brought back to life", has meanwhile died of pneumonia in his home country of Zimbabwe where he was known as Thabiso Mlanje, 28. 

Initially dubbed "Elliot" by Alleluia Ministries, he had on a previous occasion been "healed" from being confined to a wheelchair, a colleague of his said.

Moyo, who according to his family had been in SA since 2011, had been employed by a customised door manufacturing company prior to going missing after the "resurrection" hoax.

The church denied knowing in advance that it was a "fake miracle".

“At no stage did pastor Alph claim that he resurrected the person shown in the video, who was identified to him as Elliot. From the video footage, it is clearly stated that when the mortuary vehicle arrived at the church premises, there was already movement in the coffin. Prior to even praying for Elliot, pastor Alph states that Elliot is in fact breathing," said the church in statement issued at the time the scandal first broke