Brits dominee facing sex crime charges “created ‘Jesus Revolution’ WhatsApp group” for teens while on trial

Dominee Adriaan Swart has apparently used an alias to create a WhatsApp group for young people — in the middle of his trial on charges of sexual abuse of minors.

The WhatsApp group, “Jesus Revolution”, was widely promoted by a Facebook profile in the name of Johannes du Plessis — an online alias Swart has previously used to advertise the Jack Russell terriers he breeds.

The group is intended for people between 15 and 28 who “want to grow in their faith”.

Swart, 48, remains in his post as dominee of the Afrikaans Protestant Church (APK) in Sanddrift, a small farming community near Brits in North West.

The WhatsApp group was created in the days before the Sunday Times reported on his trial last Sunday, which began in April in the Pretoria high court. He faces charges arising from allegations of sexual assault of two boys who say they were 14 when, years apart, the abuse began. The charges include attempted rape and compelling the boys to appear in child pornography.

His wife, Lizette, 51, is also on trial, charged with failing to report the abuse once it was disclosed to her. She remains in her job as headmistress of Laerskool Sanddrift, a primary school situated next to the church. Both complainants in the case met her husband while she was their teacher.

Both Swarts have pleaded not guilty and are out on bail. 

The Sunday Times was alerted to Swart’s apparent online alias by local sources. “Johannes du Plessis” advertised Jesus Revolution across many rural Facebook groups. These included Afrikaanse Tieners vir Jesus (Afrikaans Teenagers for Jesus), Koop en Verkoop Christene (Buy and Sell Christians), Orania adverteer en vind uit (Orania advertise and find out) and Mooinooi en sy mense praat lekker saam (Mooinooi and its people happily chat). Mooinooi is a town about 45 minutes’ drive from Sanddrift.

The Johannes du Plessis profile, created last year, has only ever been used to promote the Jesus Revolution WhatsApp group – and to sell Jack Russells, using the reverend’s phone number. 

On Thursday, after the Sunday Times asked Swart about the Facebook profile and the new WhatsApp group, he deleted the Jesus Revolution launch video from his YouTube channel. The Johannes du Plessis Facebook profile also had its privacy settings set to maximum.

The leadership of the APK reacted angrily to the Sunday Times report last week, “Voortrekker Monument: ‘Golgotha’ that became reverend’s ‘preying ground’", according to which Swart had allegedly used the monument as a place to sexually groom the two boys.  

Dominee Schalk Strauss, the editor of the church’s magazine, said in an article headlined “Sensation is no substitute for truth — an open letter to Deon Wiggett and the Sunday Times” that last week’s report had been wrong in some respects.

The church rejected the Sunday Times’s portrayal of it as “far right and of the Afrikaners’ Voortrekker ancestors as thieves who were out to ‘take the Zulus’ land’.

“We are for life and consequently for humane action towards all people. This includes both the dignity of the alleged victim [sic] and the dignity of the alleged offenders. We fully realise, and agree with Mr Wiggett, that a child can be permanently damaged when he or she is the victim of an adult’s sick and perverse desires, but we know just as well that not even a judgment of ‘not guilty’ can remove the brand of ‘sexual predator’,” he wrote.

“We are for the healthy appreciation of our history and symbols, like the Voortrekker Monument, that remind us of the great works of God in our nation’s history.”

This week, Petro de Beer, of the APK Sanddrift’s parish council, did not answer questions relating to Swart’s WhatsApp group and online alias.

Lizette did not respond to a question about what she would do if a minor reported sexual abuse to her. The chair of her school’s governing body, Dawie Rothmann, said: “Such claims will be handled in terms of the department of education’s prescriptions and protocols.”

In the now-deleted Jesus Revolution sermon posted on his YouTube channel last week, Swart said: “You try your best and try to make the right choices, but sometimes we do stumble and do wrong things we shouldn’t. It’s human nature. Don’t let it discourage you. The big secret is not to stay down, but to get up and try every day all over again.

“Forget about what’s passed — what you’ve maybe done wrong in your life, or very bad sins that you committed. Don’t let it hold you back on your way to spiritual growth. Remember, we have a fresh opportunity every day to start anew with the Lord.”

The trial resumes on November 27.