Wife not aware of pastor, suicide woman matter
MBABANE- “This is news to me. It is my first time hearing about it and I have not yet even seen the article.”
This was according to the wife of the pastor who was accused of being the reason a young woman ended her life after the clergyman allegedly denied paternity of their unborn child.
Gcinile Malinga committed suicide last week after her affair with the clergyman ended in a pregnancy that was allegedly not well received by the pastor.
Malinga passed away last Wednesday at her parental home at Motshane after she hanged herself. According to her family, after investigating the matter, they discovered that a certain Zionist pastor from a church in Matsapha had impregnated Gcinile and was denying paternity of the unborn child.
The implicated pastor’s wife, *Thulile, said she did not believe that it was true that her husband had done such but would have to consult with him to find out if he knew anything about it.
Article
“It is my first time hearing this. I did not even know that there was an article written about it. I am not even sure that he even knows that he is being accused of such as he would have informed me. I will talk to him though to find out if he has an idea about such a story,”she said. Thulile said she believed that her husband would have given her a heads-up if there was anything like this. The chairman of the church, stated that the congregants did not want to interfere much in the pastor’s personal life. He said they did not believe that the news was legit. “He is a known man, so we may never know the motive behind the accusations. We are only going to believe it when we get proof that he was indeed involved in such, but as of yet, we cannot comment much on the issue,” he said.
News
He mentioned that the church had not been affected by the breaking of the news. The chairman further mentioned that the accused was not a pastor but a member of the Board in the church.
Contrary to the statement of the chairman, another member of the church confirmed that the accused was a pastor of the church. He said he was not only a pastor but a Gospel artist who was held in high esteem within the Zion circles. He stated that he was not bothered by the accusations as he knew his pastor and knew that he was not capable of doing such.
“Yes, he is a pastor at the church but I do not believe that he was the reason the woman committed suicide as I know my pastor and I know he is a man of God,” he claimed.
In response to this, brother to the deceased, Samkeliso Malinga, stated that he already knew that the congregants would give such responses as they protected their pastor. He said all he wanted was for people to be aware of what the pastor was capable of, so that other young women did not fall victims.
“All I want is that he is exposed so that we can prevent more girls from falling into his trap. The responses given by the congregants and chairman do not shock me as I already expected that from them, they would do anything to protect him,” he said.
Accused
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, it was alleged that the accused pastor was involved in a car chase with Samkeliso in Mankayane until he drove to the police station. According to Samkeliso, the reason for the chase was because the pastor had been allegedly avoiding them by changing his SIM cards yet the Malinga family wanted to discuss the suicide incident with him.
“When I saw the car, I got really mad because he had been avoiding us for a long time now. He ran into the police station and when we got there, the police tried to calm us down. He said the reason he had been avoiding us was because my family had threatened him and as a result he opened a case against us,” he said.
Samkeliso further alleged that his hopes of ever getting justice were lost after he recognised three police officers, who were supposed to handle the matter, as congregants from the pastor’s church.
“We were told that police who were to mediate in the situation were from the Manzini Police Station as he had reported us there, but when they arrived, I was shocked to find out that they all belonged to his church. I noticed them because we usually meet during conventions,” he claimed.
When reached for comment, Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati confirmed that the Malinga family reported a case in Mbabane against the pastor while in the Manzini Police Station, the pastor had reported a case against the Malinga family.
Some pastors, when interviewed, stated that this was an unspeakable act by the pastor, which should not throw a bad veil on all other pastors as some were still good. Reverend Johannes Mazibuko of Mbabane Alliance Church, said the act of the pastor made him upset and angry. He expressed hope that this would not then make people doubt the Christian faith and their pastors as every place had people who ruined the reputation of the good ones.
Disappointing
“I am not sure if I want to speak about this topic after seeing it as this is very disappointing and it makes me angry. I am angry because pastors need to play a fatherly role in such instances, whether to people in their churches or outside their church. I believe that there are good pastors though and due to that, people should not lose faith in Christianity and in their pastors,” he said.
The reverend expressed hope that in this case, the families would get the comfort they needed to start the journey of healing.
Conference of Churches Secretary General Themba Ngozo said this was shocking.
He said such was also detrimental to the Christian faith as people tend to associate what one pastor did with the rest of the clergyman.
Reputation
“It is sad how some pastors behave. I am saddened that he thought the reputation which was to be ruined was his while he had ruined the woman’s reputation. Some form of justice should prevail or else, we will keep on losing young women to such acts. Pastors should be responsible beings,” he said.
Ngozo said this kind of act was an eye-opener as this meant that people should be extra careful when choosing churches.
He said preferably, people should choose churches of pastors they were well-informed about and knew their background.
He expressed hope that the family would be able to get closure through justice while the pastor sought help emotionally as this meant that there was something which was not right with him.
“The pastor needs to find some form of help too as this act is not normal. I think he also needs to get psychological help. I feel sorry for the family and hope this does not negatively affect them,” he said.