Prophet Mboro fights to clear his name
Accuses CRL’s chairperson of personal attacks
PROPHET Paseka Mboro Motsoeneng again slammed the Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Rights Commission (CRL) yesterday and said he would be taking legal steps against the Chapter 9 body.
At a media briefing held yesterday at his Incredible Happenings Church, Motsoeneng spoke of his plans to take CRL to court for allegedly tarnishing his name.
This comes after the CRL released its report titled, “Commercialisation of Religion and Abuse of People’s Belief Systems”, in which it warned that churches should have regulated affiliation bodies to counter controversial practices.
Prophet Mboro is demanding an apology from CRL chairperson Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva who he accuses of being behind the misleading claims that he went to heaven.
“It is all lies aimed at tarnishing my name,” he said.
The Prophet is also unhappy that his name keeps being mentioned in the same breath with some charismatic pastors that encourage congregants to eat grass or snakes, drink petrol or part with considerable sums of money to be guaranteed a blessing or miracle.
“I would never support such people. I feel it is dangerous to use those things. Prophet Mboro is about uplifting communities through projects such as building homes for people,” he said.
Prophet Motsoeneng said he would rally his supporters to help finance his legal costs through donations over a period of nine weeks to clear his name. If he failed, the prophet said he would go on strike and discontinue his services to the public.
“If people don’t stand for me, I am not going to stand for them. I am going to open a line where people can send me SMS texts where they will pledge their support to me. They will help me to sue Thoko (Mkhwanazi-Xaluva),” he said.
He slammed Mkhwanazi-Xaluva, CRL chairperson, accusing her of lacking integrity and being dishonest following the widely reported stories of him going to heaven and back .
He added that he no longer recognised her or the commission because her attacks had become personal.
“Whenever reports emerge of pastors feeding people rats, grass, she somehow manages to drag my name into that,” he said.
Motsoeneng criticised the report’s call for the regulation of churches, saying it was anti-Christ and “anti-Mboro” while leaving alone those who practise traditionally.
Motsoeneng accused the CRL of overreaching after it recommended that umbrella organisations be established for religions.
Mkhwanazi-Xaluva on Tuesday told the media that religious practitioners must be registered with the CRL Rights Commission through their accredited umbrella organisation. She said religious leaders would not be allowed to operate without being registered.
This would mean that every registered church should have a location where they conducted religious ceremonies.
She said a database of all the leaders would be kept in order to ensure that they were vetted as a security measure.
“Umbrella organisations will be accredited by the CRL Rights Commission after submission of their governance framework. The governance framework to which their members must adhere should introduce a code of conduct, that should say that this is the behaviour that is acceptable. Like all other professions,” Mkhwanazi-Xaluva said.
The committee said umbrella bodies would each be aligned to specific religions such as Christianity and Islam.
The committees will be responsible for maintaining self-regulation and accountability, while the peer-review committee will act as the final mediator within each religious group.
Prophet Mboro accused the CRL of picking on Christianity but failing to look into cultural practices.
“There’s no difference between pastors who give people snakes and make them eat grass, and sangomas who do the same thing,” Motsoeneng said.
“There are sangomas who charge people R70 000 and feed them snakes but they are not regulated. Sangomas are not told to regulate themselves so they must regulate them as well,” he said.