Some South African pastors use brutal techniques on believers who want healing

JOHANNESBURG—The woman’s body was rigid from tension as Lethebo Rabalago sprayed a can of a powerful insecticide in her face.

Rabalago, who calls himself a “prophet detective,” posted pictures of the incident on a recent Sunday and said the tactic would miraculously heal the woman’s ulcer.

Rabalago, who is called the Prophet of Doom on social media, attracts dozens of congregants, Mount Zion General Assembly, in South Africa’s Limpopo province.

Other pastors also use unorthodox methods. Others include Penuel Mnguni, known as the Snake Pastor, whose congregants in the province of Mpumalanga have eaten live snakes and rats to try to heal illnesses, and Lesego Daniel, who calls himself Storm Rider, whose congregants in Pretoria have consumed gasoline to address illnesses.

Many of the thousands of churches in South Africa are small and informal, run by pastors who engineer what they or their believers refer to as miracles—healing illnesses, finding jobs or exorcising demons, authorities say.

No one knows how many of these churches there are, because there is no South African government requirement to register such places, said Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva, chairwoman of the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities, or CRL Rights Commission.

Services in the churches often start in the early morning and continue late into the night. Aside from taking tithes and offerings, some pastors sell DVDs of sermons, books, T-shirts, mugs, pens and “healing” oils or waters. Often, the money goes into their personal accounts, according to a report by the CRL Rights Commission.

Rabalago, who uses a large tent as a church in the northern province of Limpopo, takes credit for miracles such as curing cancer and AIDS, ensuring a young man’s selection to the local soccer team, the prevention of a car accident, and the healing of wounds and illnesses via posts on Facebook and Twitter.

The woman identified on the church’s Facebook page as Mrs. Mitala, who was photograped while she was being sprayed with insecticide by Rabalago, was among several congregants who were sprayed.

The CRL Rights Commission expressed shock and repugnance at Rabalago’s use of a pesticide on congregants. Tiger Brands, the manufacturer of the pesticide he used, Doom, warned it was dangerous to spray the insecticide on people, and called on Rabalago to stop. Other South Africans posted angry comments on the church’s Facebook page condemning the use of the insecticide.

Rabalago didn’t respond to a request for an interview. He told local media that God instructed him to use Doom to heal followers. People opened their eyes with no ill effects after being sprayed in the face, he said.

“God can do anything. God can use anything. God can use oil. God can use water. I just took the kind of things that I believe can relieve people. I haven’t healed anyone because I’m not a healer. How many people has God healed? Many. I can’t even count,” he said in a television interview.

He denied making money from so-called miracles, calling them a “gift of God.” He declined to say whether people gave tithes or offerings to the church. Rabalago has not been charged with any criminal offense.

The CRL Rights Commission has no power to act against the pastor given the willingness of participants in his rituals, Mkhwanazi-Xaluva said.

However, the commission held public hearings this year on the commercialization of churches and exploitation of gullible congregants, and has issued a report to government officials. The commission’s report said profiteering by pastors was a concern.

“We heard of many examples where: People are expected to pay substantial amounts of money before blessings and prayers could be said over them; blessed water and oils are sold to congregants at a high marked-up price; access to the spiritual leader or traditional healer is only guaranteed by payment of a fixed amount of money,” the report said. It added that followers were often asked to make bank card payments during ceremonies.

The report expressed concern about pastors who created personality cults and subjected their congregants to rituals that raised questions of human rights and ethics.

The commission’s recommendations included that pastors should be licensed and a peer-review body should be set up.

“We don’t know how many churches there are. The government doesn’t know. I can wake up and start up a church tomorrow. There’s no law that stops me from doing that,” Mkhwan-azi-Xaluva said.

She said some pastors appeared to be competing against one another to use the most unorthodox methods, to get attention and attract followers.

“It’s a marketing tool for them to make them popular and get attention. It exploits people’s difficulties.”