Commission berates MPs
RELIGIOUS RIGHTS GROUP MADE PARLY AWARE IN JUNE 2017 ‘We red-flagged the issue of Seven Angels. We knew something would happen.’
The failure by any organisation or people to take accountability for the Ngcobo killings attributed to Mancoba Seven Angels Ministries church continued yesterday with the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Cultural‚ Religious and Linguistic Rights (CRL) launching a broadside at parliament.
CRL chairperson, Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva, supported by CRL commissioners, said they warned parliament in June 2017.
“We ran a workshop to explain to the parliamentarians what this report is all about,” she said.
“Part of what we red-flagged that day was the issue of Seven Angels. We knew even at that point something horrible would happen there.”
Indeed, Warrant Officer Zuko Mbini, constables Zuko Ntsheku, Nkosiphendule Pongco, Sibongiseni Sondlana and Kuhle Metete, together with an as yet unnamed retired SANDF soldier, as well as seven people who resisted arrest are now dead.
“Professor [Shadrack] Gutto was one of the constitutional experts we took to parliament. He presented a paper to parliament on June 27, outlining the constitutionality of what we were putting on the table.”
Mkhwanazi-Xaluva said she had taken a number of religious organisations to parliament, including the Zion Christian Church, “which is the biggest church in this country”.
She said: “We took a lot of other formations with us to parliament which are umbrella organisations that said yes, although it’s uncomfortable but something needs to be done. Including the Rhema Church who was in support that something needs to happen, some regulatory framework must be put in place. They were aware this is getting out of hand.”
In terms of the constitution, as a Chapter 9 institution, the CRL has the power “to take steps to secure appropriate redress where human rights have been violated”.
The CRL is now preparing a submission to the Constitutional Court for a declaratory order as to its powers and mandate.
Everyone had to be accountable somewhere, she said.
“I can’t start up my church as a stand-alone and be accountable only to myself. You can’t control me who has opened my church with my money when I belong to no one.” –
February 2016 – Police remove children allegedly being kept from attending school by members of the Seven Angels Ministries church.
June 2017 – Chapter 9 institution CRL presents its report based on the input of 85 people representing faith organisations on the abuse of people’s belief systems. Seven Angels is listed as an extremist organisation. Parliament says it was “misled” by the CRL.
October 2017 – The portfolio committee of cooperative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) hears from 18 people representing faith organisations who denounce the CRL report’s findings.
January 2018 – Sars announces it will investigate the religious sector for noncompliance with tax laws.
February 21 – The Cogta portfolio committee sends the CRL back to the drawing board, calling for a national consultative conference.
February 21 – Gunmen enter Ngcobo Police Station and kill three police officers, a retired soldier outside the police station, then kidnap two more police officers before killing them execution style about six kilometers from the station. They steal firearms.
February 21 – Portfolio committee on police calls the killing of the six people “a national tragedy”.
February 24 – The Special Task Force, the National Intervention Unit, the Tactical Response Team and other Saps teams kill seven suspects and arrest 10 people following a shootout. A Task Force officer is wounded in both legs and 10 firearms including rifles, shotguns and pistols are recovered.