Radio station must apologise to pastor for misrepresenting him on air

Power FM has ten days to broadcast an apology to Pastor Alph Lukau for misrepresenting him on air.

Lukau complained to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (SA) that a show titled “Why we turn to false prophets - Solomon Izang Ashoms” focused‚ extensively‚ on Lukau and flouted several broadcasting rules.

He claimed that the show was biased and defamatory.

Some of the alleged defamatory statements included a reference to Lukau having a “covenant with Satan” as well as a reference to the church Alleluia Ministry being a cult.

• Pastor vows to find husbands for all in marriage marathon More than 7,000 single women from as far away as the UK, Seychelles and the Democratic Republic of Congo flocked to the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand on Friday night in the hope of finding a good man. 

Lukau a Congolese televangelist has a main church based in Sandton and has various branches in the country and throughout Africa.

According to a report in the Sunday Times‚ Lukau‚ has a body guard and has 17‚000 members and holds church services in venues as large as the Coca-Cola Dome and the Gallagher convention centre.

His church spends more than R50‚000 a week busing in people from the townships for Sunday services. Last year he spent more than R3-million on an event at the Coca-Cola Dome‚ where entrance was free‚ the newspaper said.

Lukau‚ the pastor who wedded President Jacob Zumas daughter Duduzile Zuma enjoys wearing Armani suits and owns a 12-seater jet.

• Pastor who conducted Zuma wedding rakes in cashLee Moerane has coughed up R5,000 for a prayer session she hopes will result in her meeting her Prince Charming. 

The owner of an investment company charges his church seats at R5‚000 for a VVIP ticket‚ while VIP tickets are R1‚500 a pop and the cheap seats are R450.

The pastor claimed that God has spoken to him to anoint woman in order to bring them partners.

The complaint to the BCCSA went further to accuse the broadcaster of not having given Lukau a chance to respond on the show to accusations made against the pastor. .

Power FM‚ however‚ said that the show’s producer had attempted to reach out to the pastor to give him the right to reply or participate in the show but attempts were unsuccessful. This was denied by the pastor.

The broadcaster was also accused of hate speech‚ attack on dignity and distorting‚ exaggerating and misinterpreting facts.

According to the BCCSA the matter was set down for a hearing in May‚ but both parties decided to settle the matter. In the settlement Power FM agreed that the allegations made by the presenter were not objective and factually incorrect and that it would apologise to the pastor.

The BCCSA also ordered Power FM to publish an apology on its social media platforms.