Oom Paul: It's time to go
2004-08-24 09:29
Hertzogville - The State will apply for a burial order for Paul Meintjes on Tuesday after his close family failed to bury him on Monday.
The body had been lying in a mortuary for 50 days and another three days in the widow's home after he was not buried in the hope that he may arise from the dead, as predicted by Durban "prophet" David Francis.
His widow Anna and children Pieter and Petro were ordered to bury him or have him cremated within 36 hours after health officials found that the 55-day-old body was a health threat on Thursday.
When the body was still in a borrowed coffin in the widow's bedroom on Saturday morning, police confiscated it and took it to the State mortuary in Bloemfontein. The body was delivered to the widow's Hertzogville house after undertaker Nico Foulds refused to keep the decaying body in his mortuary any longer.
But Meintjes's family failed to arrange for a cremation or funeral, and by Monday night the body was still in the mortuary, said Captain Sam Makhele.
Police will on Tuesday apply for a burial order from the court.
Meintjes's other daughter, Dalene Swanepoel of Kimberley and his sister Hettie Vorster, of Hertzogville, will hold a memorial service for him on Tuesday.