“Talking about big bosses is a dangerous move, and no one intends to talk about the whole village.”

Frightened residents of Quzini Village, on the outskirts of Qonce in the Eastern Cape, were recently asked about the fact that a local traditional healer arrested on suspicion of sexual assault doubles as a church leader. I answered.

Hawks arrested the founder of a 52-year-old church with a 37-year-old assistant on November 13 for sexual assault and trafficking.

The apostle and his assistant have been accused of recruiting and preying on vulnerable women and girls brought to church for healing.

Church members travel from all over the country in search of spiritual, spiritual, and physical healing and stay in the apostolic compound for days, months, or even years.

News24 can reveal that some of his patients are children attending school.

A teenager playing at his football club refused to talk to News24 when he stopped halfway from Friday noon practice.

The team also stays on his solid and safe grounds, which stands out from the other homes in the dusty village of Kuzini.

When News24 visited, the accommodation gate was locked.

The church building and other house clusters that house his patients are on the same grounds as his double-decker house.

Only two people spoke to News24 in the village, but asked not to name them. Meanwhile, a former member of the Church, who appears to be associated with the apostle, refused to speak.

Resident said:

Only fools speak openly to strangers about big bosses. I don’t trust you either. What if you work for him and identify people who have tapped police officers about him?

News24 proved that the locals in the village along the R346 road between Qonce and the apostle’s hometown of Stutterheim were united in fear of the man.

Another resident told News24 how a man came to the area after being forcibly removed from the village of Kwa Nonkcampa along N2 outside Qonce by members of an angry community, subject to anonymity. Told.

“They forced him to pack and left a serious claim. The community didn’t want him to be there,” the resident said.

An impeccable police source close to the investigation said, “The two defendants were found together in the bedroom by a police officer. They are also believed to be romantically connected, and his wife knew it. She was sleeping in another room on the premises. ”

Apostolic compound outside Qonce.

The former female congregation of the church was said to be primarily the apostle’s shaken partner, and whistled the Hawks, News24 was definitely informed.

On Tuesday, the apostle and his assistant were denied bail by Zwelitsha Justice of the Peace Venter.

Mr. Venter, who issued the bail, said he could not prove that both defendants did not interfere with or intimidate the witnesses.

The apostle’s lawyers petitioned for his release, claiming that it would make no difference to put him behind the prison, as there were many loyal believers who could carry out his instructions even when he was in prison.

Venter refused to apply for bail and added that if released, the apostle could be dangerous to other members of his church remaining in his facility.

The issue was postponed to November 30th while the pair remained behind the bar.

In the ruling, Wenter owns an apostle with an R4 million house, an R2m-equivalent car, an R500 000-equivalent furniture, a wife-owned R50 000 jewelery, and a transportation business that earns R38 000 a month. But he was willing to pay the R1000 bail.

The apostle tried to persuade Venter to bail him, saying that his transportation business needed to be run by him.

However, Mr. Venter said his absence would not hurt the business as he could help his wife do it while he was in custody.

The accused was arrested in September 2020 after Hawks’ serious organized crime investigation team complained of sexual abuse of vulnerable people allegedly trafficked from various regions.

At the time of his arrest, Hawks spokesman Colonel Katlego Mogare said: The apostle (52 years old) and his female accomplice (37 years old) were arrested. ”

The founders of the Eastern Cape Church are faced with sexual assault and trafficking charges

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