Minister accused of taking Lesseyton heritage funds
Treasurer removed, then R800k of ANC donation goes missing
Achurch whistleblower alleges that the congregation’s reverend embezzled R800,000 recently donated by the ANC for the construction of the Lesseyton Methodist heritage site.
The source claims that the ANC had transferred R2.5 m to the church’s bank account, but at the church’s quarterly meeting, the reverend reported that only R1.7m had been deposited.
He said when the church leadership consisting of about 20 people requested a bank statement as proof of the transactions; the reverend could not produce the statement.
He instead stated that an official from the ANC James Calata provincial office would provide a report to the congregation.
During the provincial Heritage Day celebration in Lesseyton, Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane announced that the ANC had donated R2.5m for the historical church building to be modernised.
The church had served as the theological training centre where Reverend Zacharias Richard Mahabane and Dr Ellias John Mqoboli studied.
Mqoboli was the first senior chaplain of the ANC who was active both in the Cape ANC and on the ANC national executive committee.
“The reverend should be bringing proof because the church needs to know about what is happening with the funding. This scandal has damaged the church’s reputation. This is a large sum of money that is involved. The Hawks should conduct an investigation In the meantime, the church’s members are waiting to see how the ANC will respond,” the source said.
The insider said the church leadership was not happy with the money being transferred into
the church’s account instead of the Lesseyton Methodist Church Heritage NPO’s bank account, as the body responsible for managing the project.
Another issue which made the congregants question the reverend’s integrity, the source said, was the fact that he had not paid back a R4, 000 loan that he took from the church’s funds to
purchase a car.
“The reverend asked the church to lend him some money earlier this year, some of his friends did not want him to pay back but the church demanded for him to pay it back.”
In addition, the source alleges that the reverend had been previously involved in a fraud case at his previous
church in Johannesburg.
“He was sent to us despite that.
“Some of the congregants have stopped coming to church,” the source said.
“Most of them have decided to withhold their offerings from the church.”
What was concerning to them, he said, was that the reverend had removed the treasurer from his position and that he had removed the only two NPO committee members who were appointed to handle the project.
“He was threatening to remove them. These are people who championed the project before the reverend came.”
The Rep has seen a copy of an email sent from Circuit 302 members from Komani and Lesseyton, addressed to Bishop NP Sibidla, which mentioned concerns over the minister. The letter stated that the congregants were concerned about the misconduct of the reverend which they stated was unacceptable for a church official who professed to be a man of God.
Among the eight issues that were outlined in the letter were that the reverent was allegedly a bully, he had not paid back the R45,000 loan he owed to the church, and he had not produced a statement of the bank transfer of the R 1.7m he claimed to have been transferred by the ANC.
“He has made gross misconduct of giving himself R5,000 to R7,000 monthly allowance without holding a circuit quarterly meeting. The Lesseyton project has no committee, he has removed it.
“He has fired and removed the circuit treasurer and does not want to appoint a new one,” the letter read.
The former committee members and treasurer who were allegedly removed by the reverend have declined to comment on the matter.
When asked about the allegations, the reverend questioned why the whistleblower went to the media instead of raising the matter with the church’s registrar as its disciplinary body.
He declined to comment further but stated that he would provide the correct contact for the reply and would also provide a bank statement detailing the transfer of funds.
ANC regional secretary Andile Mini referred The Rep to the provincial secretary claiming that it was a programme of the ANC province.
ANC provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi did not respond to the questions sent to him on the matter.