The Hawks have made progress in their investigation of a
Nigerian prophet who allegedly sexually abused young women from his
church, a spokesperson said on Tuesday, April 18.
“We are investigating different charges, but we can’t name
them before making an arrest,” Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Netshiunda said
on Tuesday.
On Monday
night, current affairs programme Special Assignment carried a report
about Prophet Tim Omotoso, the founder of the Jesus Dominion
International Church with branches countrywide. He had allegedly had sex
with girl as young as 14 in his home in Umhlanga, north of Durban.
The crimes are alleged to have been committed across a
number of provinces in South Africa.
Omotoso allegedly transported the
young women from their homes to his plush house where he slept with
them.
Netshiunda said he did not want to speculate about what charges the man could face.
Meanwhile, the Young Religious Leaders (YRL), which
describes itself as a moral regeneration structure, said it was greatly
disturbed by the Special Assignment episode.
“The actions displayed by this so-called Man of God are
disturbing and heart-breaking, to see what the girl child in our beloved
land of South Africa has been exposed to,” YRL Gauteng secretary Abel
Mahachi said in a statement.
Full statement below:
Young Religious Leaders statement on sexual abuse of girls in Jesus Dominion International Ministry
The Young Religious Leaders is greatly disturbed by the
recent episode of Special Assignment which was screened on the 17th of
April 2017 at 21h00. The episode showed the alleged sexual abuse of many
young women by one called Prophet Tim Omotoso who by nationality is
from Nigeria. The actions displayed by this so called Man of God are
disturbing and heartbreaking, to see what the girl child in our beloved
land of South Africa has been exposed to.
As a structure we are ambassadors of moral regeneration
which is our driving force in the programs we conduct working closely
with government. We appeal to the Hawks to make the necessary arrests to
bring the man to account for his actions. These acts should not be
taken lightly because he is not the only one doing such in the name of
religion hence decisive action needs to be taken immediately to show the
nation that we don’t tolerate unethical moral standards and abduction
of girls.
We further appeal that churches that conduct such behaviour
should be closed down so we can restore and maintain sanity in religion
holistically. We call upon Government and the CRL Rights Commission to
speed up the process of self-regulation of churches which has been
engaged several times in different platforms. The absence of legislation
to govern religion will make it difficult to deal with these issues
effectively.
We call upon Religious Leaders to have the fear of God in
order to carry out the mandate they have been called for. People are
looking up to you and it is pivotal you do the right thing for the sake
of the souls you lead.
To the women and the girls in the churches be careful and
be wise not to allow pastors to make you a victim of their lusts. As
Young Religious Leaders we are pleading with every young person in South
Africa to conduct a thorough research about a church and its leader
before taking a decision of attending, since this will help avoid being
victims of false Ministries and ministers.
We are also making a call to the African Diaspora Movement
to work with Government in the regulation of all this Pastors who are
foreign nationals and when this is done it would easy to separate the
false and authentic Pastors.We are praying for our nation that religious sanity to be restored in places of worship.
RegardsAbel Mahachi
Gauteng Provincial Secretary of the Young Religious Leaders (YRL)
More photos of the photphet below…
360L
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