Men and boys also being preyed on by pastors and traditional healers

It is not only women and young girls who are victims of sexual abuse by men of the cloth‚ the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural‚ Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL) revealed on Thursday.

“There are boys and young men too. We are worried about these boys and men. Their healing may be longer. It may be more difficult but we will do whatever it takes in terms of psychological support and whatever support they feel they may need at that point‚” said CRL chairperson‚ Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva.

She was speaking at the CRL offices in Braamfontein where they are a holding a discussion with survivors of sexual abuse by religious leaders and traditional healers.

Among some of the people taking part in the discussions are young girls who allegedly fell victim to a controversial Nigerian pastor‚ who was arrested for sexually assaulting some of his perish members last year.

Mkhwanazi-Xaluva said some of the victims who have come forward with allegations that they have been sexually assaulted by men of the cloth do not want their cases to be handled though the criminal justice system. Some of them saw this as something that happened in a religious setting and should rather be resolved in that way.

Others did not want to come forward because would rather remain anonymous because their families are not aware of what happened.

Mkhwanazi-Xaluva said some of them had repeatedly had sexual encounters with their pastors after they were told that this would lead to them “getting jobs‚ progressing in their career‚ getting healing or lots of blessings will come their way”.

Out of all the cases that CRL had handled‚ the issue of sexual abuse by religious leaders was the toughest one; Mkhwanazi-Xaluva said this was because of the environment in which the crimes happened.

“When you are in a holy environment you believe that everyone wants to do the right thing. The holiness of the setting makes it more difficult to say no . . . There is also an unbelievable levels of grooming‚” she said.

“Eventually you do not know what is right‚ what you should do and what you should not do.

“These people are relentless. They target people and are relentless. They are relentless until they get [their victims] to do what they want them to do.

“It is an impossible situation because it is complicated by beliefs. But this (being sexually abused) is the highest exploitation of one’s religion.”