An investigative report into the conduct of KwaSizabantu Church Mission, released by the CRL Rights Commission on Thursday, sheds some light on supposedly moral church leaders whose actions are often not aligned with the law or with what these religious institutions say they stand for. It also forces us to relook the role of the CRL Rights Commission which was limited in its scope in this investigation.
The commission found that most of the complaints, especially about sexual harassment, money laundering and labour-related issues did not fall under its mandate. The commission was to determine, among other issues, whether it was acceptable for virginity inspection to be practised at the mission and if the religious and cultural rights of the members were violated. It also looked into whether the doctrines of the mission could be categorised as a cult.
The report found that virginity inspection was acceptable only if it was consented upon, that church’s practice in its current form was not cultish, and to remedy the situation there should be an apology to victims and a process of reconciliation which it would facilitate. The commission noted that the lack of sex education could have consequences for the children as they may be exposed to sexual abuse.
The CRL commission as an organisation insists it plays a reactive and a proactive role in keeping watch over churches, but by its own admission it has been limited by poor funding.
Most of the complaints emanated from 30 years ago, a time when corporal punishment had not yet been abolished, a practice that was flagged by the complainants. Thus the CRL commission could not make a clear proclamation on whether the church was in the wrong here.
The church is supposed to be a force of stability in the community, a sanctuary of sorts. But some of the acts that took place there were criminal, with the commission confirming a perpetrator was serving jail time for rape. Churches should practice what they preach: peace, love, respect and common decency should be the doctrines guiding them in how they treat congregants. The rigid confluence between faith and the law in this case shows that many churches are not aligned with the expectation of men in cloth.
If KwaSizabantu must apologise to the victims, so should all the other religious leaders who have violated the trust, bodies and beliefs of people. Over the years we have seen congregants being sprayed with insecticides or pastors claiming to rise from the dead.
Some of these matters are playing out in the courts.
Just this month TimesLIVE Premium revealed that the alleged paedophile dominee Adriaan Swart was suspended by his arch-conservative church after being charged with abusing two children — but was reinstated three months later.
Bishop Bafana Zondo of Rivers of Living Waters church is still on trial on 10 charges of rape charges in the Pretoria high court. Not forgetting the leader of Jesus Dominion International, Timothy Omotoso who made headlines over charges of sexual assault and human trafficking.
The CRL commission as an organisation insists it plays a reactive and proactive role in keeping watch over churches, but by its own admission it has been limited by poor funding. This is one of the reasons it took three years to release this investigative report. The degenerative consequences of this is that the people they need to rescue are inexorably trapped in abusive situations in the name of faith or driven by desperation. By the time they get to them, the damage is already done.
Not only does the CRL commission have to promote and protect human rights, it has a duty to educate the masses on the dangers of some of these organisations.
The sermon in all of this is that the people who should be protecting the public from abuse by churches themselves are limited. In this case, all it could ask for was an apology to victims. The powers that be need to give the CRL Rights Commission more teeth and more resources to ensure our churches remain sacred, safe spaces.
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