Oom Paul now home - in coffin
2004-08-18 23:02
Hertzogville - Oom Paul Meintjies is at home now, after lying in the mortuary for 50 days.
He has not risen from the dead yet, but is in a coffin next to the bed of his widow, Tannie Anna.
Tannie Anna and her two children, Pieter and Petro Joseph, and Durban "prophet" David Francis, who predicted that Oom Paul would be resurrected, asked on Wednesday that Oom Paul's body be dropped at their home.
Undertaker Nico Foulds told the Meintjies family they must take the body or Oom Paul would go to the state mortuary.
Amid great interest, Oom Paul was delivered to the Meintjies family's home in a borrowed coffin on Wednesday.
Police were on the scene, and Tannie Anna asked them to arrest anyone who came on to their property for trespassing.
Pieter Meintjies and his sister used blankets so no curious eyes could see what happened to the coffin.
Sister was asked to leave
Foulds said he helped put the coffin next to a bed in the bedroom.
Oom Paul's sister, Hettie Vorster, was most upset and stormed into the Meintjies home.
Captain Jaco Breedt took her off the premises after Pieter Meintjies had asked her to leave.
Vorster left, shaking her head.
"Now they have what they want. Cowards. Paul is no longer there; just his bones remain."
Unhappy residents who were "tired of this nonsense" also gathered outside the house.
One, Koos Visser, said they were ready for this "prophet".
He and other residents had threatened earlier they would whip the "prophet" out of town.
Despite calls for the "prophet" to emerge, there was no sign of Francis.
In a subdued voice, Pieter Meintjies said the "prophet" would speak "when God says it's OK to do so".
Three prayed for Oom Paul
No one knows what the Meintjies family will be doing with Oom Paul's body.
Some speculate they will be keeping him in a fridge, and others are wondering whether they're not planning to take him to Durban, where Francis lives.
Foulds is relieved to be rid of the body.
He said earlier that whatever the Meintjies family intended doing with the body was their business.
Three women from Pretoria came to pray for Oom Paul in front of the mortuary early on Wednesday morning.
They told Foulds they didn't believe Oom Paul would rise again, but it would be "a spiritual awakening".