Two videos doing rounds on social media of two girls in their 20s being beaten with a pipe in a Mdantsane church in the Eastern Cape have sparked outrage.
The incidents allegedly occurred at Endumisweni Faith Mission.
In one of the videos, a girl in her early 20s is seen begging for forgiveness as she’s allegedly being beaten by a church leader. The videos have evoked emotions and sent shock waves on social media.
A former congregant, Andiswa Ralasi from Mdantsane left the church nine years ago, allegedly after she was ill-treated.
“I would go to this man and then the following day we will have to report on what happened and then the guy will explain that I refused to sleep with him. That’s when the punishment starts and then they will beat you. There was a team called Imbambo team. You would be beaten by five people, asking you why you refused to sleep with the man.”
One former congregant, who wants to remain anonymous, says church officials siphoned money from her bank card.
“They will request that you do a credit card, then you do a credit then they will take the whole money, and then they would request again you do a loan then you take that loan then they take the whole money. With my belief was that they will help someone at the church, and then now when it comes to the payment, you have to make that debit order for that credit card and that loan, and then at the very same time at the month end you would be requested to send some money to the church.”
The SA Council of Churches provincial secretary Phumezo Jaxa has condemned the church elders’ behaviour and says it has the potential to discredit Christianity.
“When we see the human rights violation as portrait on this graphic video, we must indeed condemn in the strongest sense what is happening and we make a call to the law authorities, the Human Rights Commission, to investigate this human rights violations in that particular place of worship.”
The church has defended the beatings and says it employs corporal punishment as one of its ways to discipline members. Tshidi Spampul-Mnyatama, the woman seen beating the girls, says that South African children are spoilt.
“South African leaders have spoilt our children. The reason why our youth are misbehaving is that the government instructed that corporal punishment should be banned. Today children are beating up their parents. Is that what the government wants?”
Political parties, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and Democratic Alliance (DA), have come out in support of those affected and condemned the acts of abuse. DA leader Mmusi Maimane says that the church leadership must be held accountable.
“We should hold every leader accountable. No one should ever be using the pulpit as an opportunity to do things that are illegal, and therefore, I would urge that the police must do their job.”
@EFFSouthAfrica members in Mdantsane are protesting outside the controversial church, Endumisweni Faith Mission in the Eastern Cape. #sabcnews @SABCNewsOnline @SAfmnews pic.twitter.com/mPbwQoHrkL
— Ayabonga Kekana (@VhongaMyeni) January 20, 2019
The EFF in Mdantsane demands that the church to be shut down. The party says the practices by the church are unlawful, as the party’s leader Xolile Sitsili explains:
“We’re of a view that the church must be closed, it must be shut down with immediate effect because they are practising Satanism instead the worshipping of God.”
The EFF has threatened of take legal action against the church.
WATCH RELATED VIDEO BELOW:
