Judge halts unholy war between churches
● A year-long unholy war between two pastors over the church building to which they both laid claim had to be settled by a higher power in the hallowed halls of justice.
“Discord and division become no Christian. For wolves to worry the lambs is no wonder, but for one lamb to worry another, this is unnatural and monstrous,” began judge Rob Mossop in his ruling last week on the matter between Fountain Impactors Church, Here is Life Ministries and the Msunduzi municipality.
Mzwandile Goodlord Ntshele, who broke away from Here is Life Ministries in May last year and formed Fountain Impactors, hauled his former church and the municipality to court over an Edendale building in which he claimed he was entitled to hold services because he had raised funds for its construction.
But Ntshele didn’t receive Mossop’s blessing, with the judge ruling against him.
In his summary of the case, Mossop said Here is Life Ministries was established 15 years ago, “and its congregants initially used to meet in a tent to conduct religious services and ceremonies”.
The judge said Ntshele saw himself as the driving force behind Here is Life acquiring from the Msunduzi municipality the property on which the new church was built, and behind raising funds for construction.
“In doing so, he can only have acted on behalf of the first respondent [Here is Life], as he was its employee. On his own version, the second respondent [the municipality] permitted the first respondent to use the property and to construct the church,” said Mossop.
Ntshele believed he could use the church for services when he started Fountain Impactors. When he tried to hold a service shortly after launching his church last year, “there was some consternation … and resistance” among members of Here is Life, the judge said.
“Ntshele claims that he was attacked and threatened by its members. He does not name those members in the founding affidavit. He claims that the tumultuous events of which he complains were recorded on a video and asserts that he has put up a memory stick with his papers on which the video is fixed. He did not do so, and I have consequently not seen any video,” the judge said.
Mossop did not accept Ntshele’s argument that those who joined him in his new
church were allowed to use the building on the grounds that they had made donations towards the construction.
“The fact that the donors now prefer to worship under the aegis of the applicant does not endow them with any right to the brick and mortar of the church. A donation is just that: it is a gift or contribution, made without conditions, designed to assist the party to whom the gift is given,” said Mossop.
Ntshele based his argument on a “permit to occupy” signed by former ward councillor Thami Sithole.
Mossop said he could not discern legal grounds for Ntshele’s claim that he had the right to use the church for his services.
“It seems to me that what the applicant is attempting to do is to claim the church and property of another religious body without paying for it. It matters not that some, a few, or all the members of the first respondent now wish to worship through the applicant.”
The judge ruled that Here is Life was the owner of the church, with rights to ownership separate from current or past members, and Ntshele’s application thus failed.
According to a notice on Ntshele’s Facebook page, his weekly services are now being held at the Imbali community hall.
Ntshele declined to comment to the Sunday Times. “Matters of the church are confidential,” he said.
Here is Life Ministries pastor Cornelius Msane said: “All I can say is thank God it’s over.”