A controversial clergyman, already facing charges for allegedly faking his estranged wife’s death, has now been linked to the identity theft of a rival church leader who headed up one of Africa’s mega churches before his death.
Glayton Modise was the leader of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC), one of Africa’s biggest churches with an estimated 3-million strong congregation.
He and his church owned two buses that were hijacked after his death, according to his son Frederick Modise, who succeeded his father in 2016.
The ownership of these two buses has now been transferred to a company belonging to Mike Sandlana, the leader of an opposing church faction.
Sandlana is soon going on trial for fraud after he allegedly handed in to home affairs a death certificate of his estranged wife, Magalane Benedicta Sandlana, while she was very much alive. He was apparently hoping to “inherit” her three properties, worth nearly R1.5m. She discovered this when her bank told her she was dead.
Now Sunday Times Daily has established that Sandlana’s company, Ntate O Lerato, of which he is the sole director, is central to another investigation — the transfer of the two buses.
At the centre of the probe is a fraud charge in which Modise’s ID smart card was used to complete the transfer of ownership process. The department of home affairs (DOHA) last month confirmed that Modise’s ID smart card was irregularly issued on February 13 2017 — a year after his death.
Police have since launched an investigation into how a dead man was able to obtain an ID document. Capt Augustinah Selepe told Sunday Times Daily the investigation was ongoing and that a docket had been sent to the National Prosecuting Authority for a decision.
Sunday Times Daily has seen a certified copy of Modise’s ID smart card, which now forms the basis of the investigation.
On February 2, officers attached to the National Investigation Unit contacted DOHA to explain they were looking into a case of fraud and corruption related to Modise’s ID document, which was produced to obtain copies of registration papers and the re-registration of the two buses.
Sunday Times Daily has seen the correspondence between the police and DOHA in which officers indicate that Modise died on February 9 2016, yet his ID smart card was issued on February 13 2017.
An affidavit deposed to the police by Sylvia Busisiwe Gumede, a fingerprint officer attached to the Fingerprint Verifications Unit at DOHA, on March 8 said Modise was last issued with a green identity book. Among her daily duties, Gumede updates the National Population Register. She provided a brief history of the number of times Modise was issued with an identity document throughout his life: he was issued with three green identity books, the first being on February 18 2008 and the last being on August 12 2008. She elaborated that, according to the National Population Register, Modise’s status is deceased, “marked in 2016/02/09”.
The investigation was launched into the transfer of the buses that belonged to Modise with registration numbers CP80GFGP and BD25RWGP after it was discovered that a fraudulently obtained copy of Modise’s ID smart card was used as part of the supporting documentation in the transfer of buses from his estate, International Pentecostal Holiness Church NPC, to a company named Ntate O Lerato.
Sunday Times Daily contacted Sandlana’s lawyer, Sifiso Twala, who refused to comment on the matter, saying: “I unfortunately do not hold instructions to address the media on anything pertaining to my client.” Sandlana’s spokespeople were also contacted, but they did not respond to questions.
In documents seen by Sunday Times Daily, the first bus was transferred from Modise’s estate on June 28 2021, while the transfer of the second bus was completed on July 7 2021.
Frederick Leonard Modise, Glayton Modise’s son, said in a statement that his father’s estate file was opened with the master of the high court in Johannesburg and it is yet to be finalised. Frederick said his father bought the buses and registered them under his name and others under the IPHC non-profit company (NPC).
He explained that he succeeded his father as the leader of the church after his death.
“Around June 2020, I sent the two buses to be tested for roadworthiness in Pretoria. However, they never returned as a gun-wielding group of people hijacked the two buses,” he said.
Frederick said he registered a case of hijacking at the Sinoville police station, but that has not yielded an arrest or location of the hijacked buses.
“During June 2021, without my permission, the ownership of the buses was changed from both my father and the IPHC NPC to the company known to me as Ntate O Lerato that is owned (by) Mike Sandlana,” he said.
Frederick said he did not sign any documents authorising the transfer of ownership.
Izak de Villiers, a co-executor of Modise’s estate, alleged that one of the buses in question (CP80GFGP) belonged to Modise and then his estate after his death in 2016.
“It is now illegally or unlawfully transferred to the Ntate O Lerato (Pty) Ltd owned by a certain (Mike) Gilbert Sandlana,” said De Villiers.
De Villiers said he did not sign documents to authorise the transfer of the bus and did not give anyone permission to sign transfer documents on behalf of the estate.
“I do not know how the signatures and identity documents were obtained to affect the transfer of the bus. And as an executor I did not give anyone permission to sign transfer documents on behalf of the estate,” said De Villiers.
Sandlana, 60, along with his lawyer Albert Ramothwala, 45, are expected to go on trial in the Pretoria magistrate’s court in June for fraud in connection with the faking of his estranged wife’s death.
The pair was arrested after it was discovered that Ramothwala had allegedly submitted to the master of the high court in Pretoria a death notice and a letter of executorship which bore Sandlana’s names, personal details and his signature.
The notice was submitted along with a certified copy of Sandlana’s ID document, the couple’s marriage certificate, the “death certificate”, inventory of properties, a nomination form, acceptance of trust as executor, an affidavit and ID copy of Magalane. According to the documents, Sandlana was to inherit three properties with a total value of nearly R1.5m.
