Police found the body of a pastor who died more than two months ago when they finally got a warrant to search a property in Rockville, Soweto, on Monday.
Captain Mbazima Shiburi said police were refused entry to the house - which is used as a church - 66 days ago, although they suspected there was a dead body inside it.
Apparently the pastor had told his congregation that if he died, he should not be removed because he would "wake up" again in seven days.
Police kept the house under surveillance, but were powerless to act until they received anonymous information on Sunday that there was a corpse inside, said Shiburi.
He said that when they arrived on Monday with the warrant, the woman at the house "asked for two minutes to pray" before they entered the house.
"We found the decomposed body of the pastor, lying on the floor," said Shiburi.
Police removed the body amid a crowd of spectators.
It was up to the investigators to find out more information, Shiburi said: "We are just happy that we have found the body."
He said the case would be "intensively investigated".