CRL report into KwaSizabantu to be released

The commission for religious and linguistic rights will on Thursday present its report on its investigation into allegations of sexual abuse and negligence at the controversial KwaSizabantu Christian Mission near Kranskop in northern KwaZulu-Natal.

KwaSizabantu owns a multimillion-rand farm and bottled-water plant. It became the focus of a fraud and money-laundering investigation two years ago.

In the public hearings conducted by the commission, a former preacher at the mission, Pieter Becker, cried when he spoke about the condemnation and punishment children were subjected to and the racial disparity when it came to hair policy, with black girls having to shave their heads.

“Sometimes I would pray to God and cry at night for the past pupils and the children of the co-workers who grew up at KwaSizabantu. Some of them want nothing to do with God and it broke my heart, and I cried out to God,” said Becker.

“I realised the reason these children didn't want God was because they don’t want the God of KwaSizabantu,” he said.

The mission has vehemently dismissed the allegations as a plot by a breakaway group to destabilise the organisation so they can seize financial control. They have conducted an independent investigation into the allegations after claiming the CRL was biased against them.

The church released a report of an investigation it commissioned in 2020, conducted by what it said was an “independent panel” comprising Adv Khumbu Shazi and attorney Peter le Mottée.

The lawyers cleared the church of allegations that it is a cult, but said they found some “concerning issues” that needed to be addressed. They also dismissed ex-members’ claims of rape and sexual abuse.

One of the recurring themes during the hearings was the allegation that the church tore families apart by ostracising those who did not believe in its teachings.

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