MBORO DEFENDS VAGINA ANTICS
Pastor rejects commission on churches
PASTOR Mboro has refused to cooperate with the commission investigating the commercialisation of religion.
“If I have to be arrested, arrest me now or let me go. I am used to going to jail,” he said during a hearing held at the commission’s offices in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, yesterday.
The Incredible Happenings Ministries’ prophet Paseka Motsoeneng, also known as Mboro, came out guns blazing, saying he had a problem with his finances being published in newspapers.
He refused to submit his personal documents to the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL), saying he did not recognise them.
Mboro said he had a problem with submitting documents which include annual financial statements from an auditing firm backdated to 2012, six months bank statements, annual general meetings, and proof of qualification.
“It will be in the newspaper on the front page – Mboro has R10million in his account … I have enemies and they know my strengths and weaknesses,” Mboro said.
After taking a solemn affirmation, he refused to divulge whether his church was registered as a nonprofit organisation (NPO).
But CRL chairwoman Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva hit back: “We will do this or it will end up badly. ”
She said the commission had been taken to court to challenge the decision not to open the hearings to the media and the public.
“If you violate summons, you will be in breach of the law,” said commissioner Richard Botha.
Sowetan took the commission to court last week when Judge Raylene Keightley of the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg granted the application with costs.
Said Mkhwanazi-Xaluva: “If you want to object to the finding, your lawyers can advise you. We are already paying the costs for the Sowetan and the judge has said that the documents are open to the public.”
Mboro said he was persecuted by many people.
Before he was sworn in, he told the hearing that the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) never consulted him about the investigation into the abuse of women in his church.
In 2013, the SAHRC made a preliminary finding that Mboro was using sexual violence when praying for female congregants.
“… there were no fingers inserted in women’s private parts … at the end of the day, I have not been to trial,” he said, adding that he never touched the woman in question.
He said the woman was “giving birth to stones” and all he did was pray for her.
He has been granted a second postponement. REPRESENTATIVES of Major Prophet Shepherd Bushiri s Enlightened Christian Gathering in Tshwane were found to be breaking the law because the church s finances have not been audited.
You are in breach of the NPO Act,” said Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities commissioner Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva.
The commission asked how tithes, prophetic seeding and offerings were conducted and if the church kept records of who paid tithes or not.
The church s Calvin Kubayi said: People follow what is in the Bible. People subscribe to what is in the Bible. No one is forced.”
They submitted required docu- ments and said the church had collected R1.2-million in revenue this year. Representatives from the Rastafari community also appeared yesterday.
Meanwhile, Mkhwanazi-Xaluva said the commission was waiting for the Shembe Church court battle to be finalised so that they could summon them to appear before the commission as well.
The investigative study is expected to be completed in April.
It seeks to have churches regulated.
The National Religious Leaders Council has joined the South African Council of Churches in its call for the suspension of these hearings pending consultations with church leaders. Sibongile Mashaba