Johannesburg - The fear of controversial “resurrection” pastor Alph Lukau has allegedly driven Brighton Moyo, the “miracle” man, and three co-workers to go into hiding.
Lukau, of Alleluia Ministries International (AMI), gained infamy this week after a video surfaced of him supposedly resurrecting Moyo, whom the pastor referred to as “Elliot”.
Moyo’s employer at Vincent Amoretti Pty Ltd, Vincent Amoretti, detailed how fear had gripped three of his workers who were close to Moyo. “They (colleagues) didn’t go home after the story broke. They have hidden away, they are really scared of this pastor. He apparently sends guys in who hurt people,” he said.
Amoretti said Moyo had also gone AWOL alongside the three employees who were still missing.
Amoretti, who runs a successful door-manufacturing factory in Pretoria, told The Star that Moyo tried recruiting his fellow employees to work with the church as part of the miracle scams.
“He was always trying to get people who work for me to come and act with him so they can show they were being healed,” he said. The last time Amoretti saw Moyo was on February 5.
He described Moyo as a hard worker who operated a specialised wood-cutting machine. He said Moyo had been suspended from the door-making factory.
“He has not come back to work, so we are going to have a disciplinary hearing without him there. We have not gone through with that yet, so he is still an employee,” Amoretti added.
The company owner said Moyo had been rising in the ranks of the company before his suspension. “He became an assistant machinist and he was starting to climb the ladder. He was okay and I knew it could take him far,” he said.
A co-worker, who asked to remain anonymous, said Moyo was a “decent guy”. The employee said he had mentioned AMI to him.
“He said they were doing fake miracles,” said the co-worker. He added that Moyo said the church could pay them.
Moyo’s friend of five years, Nicky*, revealed that his friend got involved with the church through people they knew from Joburg.
“He is a very good guy but I don’t know what happened because they had been trying to recruit him for quite a long time and he would say, ‘these people are calling me’, and they would even go to his home,” said Nicky.
The worried friend said Moyo had been speaking about AMI for about two to three years.
“This is not a good thing, it’s like joining Satanism,” he said.
Nicky said Moyo didn’t speak to him about the “resurrection”.
“At the outset both Alleluia Ministries and Pastor Alph (Lukau) want to make it abundantly clear that they remain steadfast in their belief that through the power of God, people cannot only be healed but they can also be resurrected from the dead,” said AMI spokesperson Busi Gaca.
However, she said that at no stage did Lukau claim he had resurrected the man in the video. The church referred to Moyo as Elliot in its statement because it said his family members identified him as such.
“During the service, Pastor Alph clearly states that the extent of the miracle needs to be verified and that such verification should include interviewing Elliot’s doctor and everyone in the mortuary,” she said.
The church said it had no interactions with Elliot and his family before Sunday, when Moyo appeared to rise from the coffin after Lukau’s intervention.
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