Family shocked by resurrected man

The family claims they had identified the body at the mortuary before burial.

Alex Police Station

A shaken Alex family in Johannesburg is seeking help from the police and social workers after a relative who was allegedly resurrected from the dead showed up in the township midday 4 August, Alex News reports.

The relatives were called mid-morning to fetch Lunga Poo, 25, at Realogile, his former secondary school.

About three men and six women who were with Lunga at Alexandra Police Station, next to the school, vowed they had buried him in Waterval Cemetery on July 29 after following the normal funeral procedures, including the acquisition of a death certificate, burial order, night vigil, prayers, body viewing, entourage for his send-off and burial.

Lunga appeared confused and worried, and the relatives requested that his pictures not be taken for now or that he be interviewed.

An uncle, Sello Poo, who lived with him after his parents died, said Lunga, who completed Grade 10 in 2005, went to the school looking for an education testimonial he told school officials was wanted by a prospective employer in the security industry. This seemingly after the employer had picked up that he was certified as dead.

The school kept him until the relatives arrived and took him to the police station, where they sought assistance on how to unravel the puzzle.

“They are trying to discover the identity of the person with similar features who they collected from the Hillbrow mortuary, and who was identified as him during the funeral process by others who knew him.”

The uncle said Lunga disappeared from home in September last year until they traced him to the mortuary through his picture featured in a newspaper death notice of unknown persons. He added he was said to have been knocked down by a motor vehicle in Bryanston and died days later at the Helen Joseph Hospital from his injuries.

However, Lunga is said to have told the relatives that he had been living in Doornfontein since his disappearance.

Another uncle, Colleen Chaane, said they identified Lunga in the mortuary through distinctive features, and were convinced they had collected and buried the body of Lunga, who was also identified through fingerprints.

“It’s a perplexing scenario we find ourselves in,” said Chaane.

“The matter now needs a thorough investigation, including exhumation, identification of the person we buried and follow-up processes of closure. Also, we will have to do something to reintegrate him into society and reverse his dead status, which came at a high cost to the family,” Chaane said.

Police spokesperson Captain Allie Kodisang said the case would be investigated while a legal expert who requested anonymity said the incident was rare and would require a special urgent court application if the buried body is to be exhumed for examination before it decomposed.

Meanwhile, other family members requested privacy as they deal with their traumatic experience.

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