Churches a playground for criminals

CHRISTIAN imposters are taking advantage of our desperate communities.

The spiralling incidents of sexual offences emerging at places of worship around the country have exposed the vulnerability, naivety and desperation of our communities on issues relating to Christianity and their challenges in life.

Riding on the mantra that Christianity is a panacea for all the troubles facing our people, the so-called “men of God” have put Christianity on the back burner while seizing every opportunity to advance their evil agenda and interests at the expense of desperate congregants.

Often, Christianity has been used as a smokescreen by these prophets to mislead, humiliate and, often, rob unsuspecting congregants of their hard-earned monies.

It’s disheartening that our people have failed to realise that these are criminals who masquerade as “men of God”.

They are Christian imposters. They are callous, pretentious and fabulists. Driven by desperation, our communities have opted for ignorance over reality.

They have naively allowed these Christian imposters to do things to them in the belief that the challenges they face will be resolved. For a while, South Africans have watched as the “men of God” misled and took advantage of their unsuspecting congregants. Despicable.

As South Africans, we have every reason to be worried as shocking incidents of sexual crimes involving pastors regularly emerge. And this movie has now reached its peak performance.

The recent incidents, such as that of a pastoral counsellor, Ntandoyenkosi Clark Sithole, at Every Nation Rosebank (ENR) in Parktown North, attest to this. South Africans also saw the trial of charismatic pastor John Masilela, standing in the dock in the Kwamhlanga Regional Court. He is facing charges of rape and indecent assault for allegedly sodomising 18 members of his Good Shepherd Christian Church.

There have been many cases, including that of Shepherd Bushiri and pastor Paseka “Mboro” Motsoeneng.

Our people are suffering from deliberate and self-inflicted amnesia. Despite widespread condemnation of these incidents our people often conveniently forget and still allow these evil prophets to take advantage of them. They have chosen to be taken advantage of without any undue influence.

While this, understandably, provokes anger among staunch Christians, it also begs the question: are our people so naïve to believe that being sexually violated can give them spiritual blessings?

Being such a protesting nation, perhaps this is one matter where we should sustain social mobilisation and launch a fierce dissent against this. Our voices need to be on high volume to denounce these despicable acts.

Our churches have become a playground for criminals.

There should be proper regulation of the religious sector in the country. Affiliation to the regulated body needs to be a prerequisite to open any place of worship in the country.

Now is the time for the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL) to throw down the gauntlet and stamp its authority.