Bishop Zondo rape trial to resume on Monday morning

The rape trial of Rivers of Living Waters Church leader, Archbishop Steven Bafana Zondo, will resume in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, on Monday morning.

The preacher is facing ten charges, including defeating the ends of justice and indecent assault in the North Gauteng High Court.

State witness, a 46-year-old woman who claims Zondo sexually assaulted her on three occasions when she was seven-years-old, will continue her testimony.

Last week, Zondo’s legal counsel, advocate Piet Pistorius questioned the woman on her memory of the events almost 40 years ago.

Adv Pistorius: “And I put it to you, a girl of six or seven years old, forty years ago, not now as an adult, forty years ago, would have been in a state of shock, she would not reconstruct what happened forty years later as you are doing now.”

Witness: “If you have experienced pain, you have never come across in your life, it does not matter when, you will never forget that pain and each time you come across the person that did that [caused the pain], it will start all over again.”

The video below, is the proceedings of last week’s court sitting:

The witness says on all occasions, the preacher would allegedly give her R1 afterwards.

She has told the court that during the third incident, the preacher was aggressive because of her screaming and crying when he entered the bedroom.

The witness says she only disclosed the alleged incidents to her brother much later in life.

In May 2020, she finally opened a sexual assault case against Zondo, 40 years after the alleged incidents.

A meeting between her and Zondo, and their respective families followed.

She says during that meeting, the pastor denied the allegations and claimed he did not recall anything.

Despite this, Zondo is said to have apologised to the alleged victim’s family, but not to her.

The witness also claims the bishop pleaded for forgiveness and asked her to name her price to keep the matter a secret.

He allegedly offered her livestock and R25 000 among others, in exchange for dropping the charges, which she declined.

2020 video, Bishop Zondo maintains innocence amid sexual abuse claims: