The Pietermaritzburg High Court has ordered the exhumation and reburial of the leader of the Christian Catholic Apostolic Holy Spirit Church in Zion leader, President Thamsanqa Elijah Nkonyane, in Osizweni, Newcastle. The order was granted after his family and estranged wife approached the court following the alleged discovery of a secret grave in the church's backyard.
The Pietermaritzburg High Court has ordered that the body of Christian Catholic Apostolic Holy Spirit in Zion Church president Thamsanqa Elijah Nkonyane be exhumed and reburied, bringing a dramatic new chapter to a burial dispute that has gripped church members and the public alike.
Nkonyane, whose church headquarters are based in Newcastle, died several weeks ago. However, what was meant to be a final farewell quickly descended into controversy amid allegations that his funeral casket contained bricks and that his body had been secretly buried a day before the scheduled funeral service.
Both the church and funeral services company Icebolethu Group strongly denied the allegations.
The funeral was later halted after Nkonyane's estranged wife, Dolly Nkonyeni (MaNgcobo), successfully obtained an urgent interdict from the Pietermaritzburg High Court preventing the burial from proceeding.
