Swazi Observer

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SEX SCANDAL ROCKS NAZARENE CHURCH

By Starsky Mkhonta | 2018-12-11

A CHURCH of the Nazarene branch around Nhlangano is rocked by a sex scandal involving a priest, who is accused of sexually abusing female worshippers until one of them fell pregnant and has given birth to a bouncing baby boy.

The man of the Word is currently on suspension pending internal investigations.

Unconfirmed reports are to the effect that law enforcing agents have also been called in as more women have come forward to lay allegations against the holy Romeo. Surprisingly, the said sex pest is said to have tied the knot only this past year and the woman is still in denial that the love of her life could do such damning acts with other women other than her.

While a child has been born of the unholy matrimony, the priest is said to be denying flatly ever having an affair with the woman. However, insiders say elders of this branch met several times over the matter with the priest concerned but without desirable outcomes, especially because he insists that he never ever had sex with the woman, let alone siring the baby boy.

request

Young girls have, however, come out to claim that he used to request them to send him images of their private parts and he would in turn do likewise, Gigaba style.

“The pervert priest would send his nude pictures displaying his male member to some of the young women. He would also send messages of sweet nothings in the name of the Lord. These are allegations that have come out following the launch of the investigations,” said a source.

Insiders say five girls are willing to come forward with fresh evidence to prove their allegations levelled against the priest in the same manner some girls in Durban, South Africa have come out to testify their won experiences at the hands of one Nigerian pastor, Tim Omotoso. The trial is underway in South Africa. These girls have offered to testify at the investigation having been encouraged by the mother of this child, who has stood her ground that the priest is actually the father of her baby. Now that he is denying the girls are coming out of the closet.

Most of the afflicted women had decided to abandon church activities after they felt they could not stand being used as sex tools by the priest, while other elders of the church, though aware, appeared to look the other way.

promise

Initially, the priest and the mother of the baby agreed on a secret pact that the woman would not let anyone know about the authorship of the pregnancy in exchange that the man of God would take care of both mother and child, a promise he never met, hence the spilling of the beans.

She then resolved to throw the baby on the pulpit, while the priest gave sermons but before she could implement her plan, this quickly reached the elders who were somehow able to convince her to change her mind.

They asked her to give them time to launch their investigations, which have still not been concluded but the priest has been advised to keep away from the pulpit, in the meantime.

Meanwhile, other sources said while all along church members thought the priest was away on leave, they have since been made to believe he could not return for now because of the suspension pending investigations

ongoing

“It’s been over four weeks now since he left and we have learnt that he has been excused from any of the church’s activities, while investigations are still ongoing,” said a source.

Overseer of the Nazarene churches in the region President Sipho Ncongwane did not want to commit himself when contacted on the issue, stating that it is being handled by the relevant authorities.

While reluctant to confirm if his office was aware of the scandal involving the priest at one of his branches, Ncongwane said only the board could shed light.

“It’s not an issue I can comment on as it is handled internally by that branch. It’s totally out of my hand to make any comment on this issue you are asking me about,” said Ncongwane.

On the other hand, some of the committee members believed to be handling the matter all refused to say anything when approached except to state that as a branch, the issue was communicated to the office of the regional president of the Nazarene Churches in the region.

“There is nothing we can comment about other than to tell you that what you are asking about we did alert the president’s office,” said one of the elders of the branch.

Meanwhile, when the alleged rogue priest was reached for comment, he ‘lied’ that the number he was called at was not the correct one. Having confirmed his identify at first, when asked if he was indeed the person the newspaper wanted, and if he could shed light on the issue touching on him at his church, he could not come out in the open and when the reporter introduced himself and the reason for calling, he turned around to claim it was not the person the reporter was looking for.

investigated

“It’s a wrong number,” said the pastor.

On the other hand, police mouthpiece Superintendent Phindile Vilakati said there was a matter where the paternity of a child was an issue of investigations.

“There is an issue which is being investigated. We have advised that there should be a paternity test, which means a DNA has to be carried out,” said Supt Vilakati.

In the case of the Nigerian pastor News24 reported that last year the Nigerian-born pastor made headlines after he was charged for human trafficking and rape. The senior pastor of the Jesus Dominion International Church was accused of keeping young female congregants of his church in a house in Umhlanga in Durban and sexually assaulting them.

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