ONE of the 42 accused in the attack on the International Pentecostal Holiness Church Zuurbekom branch, has come forward.
While the original case against 42 people who were accused of the church attack in which five people were killed was mysteriously struck off the roll, one of the accused has spilled the beans and is implicating the leader of the IPHC Jerusalem faction, Michael Sandlana.
The Star has reported extensively on Sandlana, but was on Friday surprised to hear of the inner planning of the attack that left five dead and dozens of innocent worshippers injured.
Early on Saturday, July 11, 2020, the SAPS responded to a shooting incident in which it was alleged that a group of men stormed into the church yard armed with rifles, shotguns and pistols and started attacking security personnel as well as worshippers. This was confirmed by National Prosecuting Authority Gauteng spokesperson, Phindi Mjonondwane.
Mjonondwane said police units that attended the crime scene managed to rescue people who were being held hostage, including women and children.
An attorney, a member of the SANDF and an SAPS official were among the accused who appeared in court. On Sunday, after the attack at the IPHC headquarters, allegedly by a rival faction seeking to take control, the church’s leader Leonard Modise appealed for an intervention to stop the bloodshed.
Now one of the previously accused has spoken to The Star exclusively. Mziwoxolo Thusi says the attack took weeks to plan.
“Just after Easter a meeting was called by the priests; they wanted only men in the meeting and the condition of the meeting was that we must not tell our wives. They wanted people who have worked in the security industry and who know how to use a rifle.
“The priest said that our home was overtaken by imposters and that Jokobo (Bishop Leonard Modise) was not the real church successor and that we must remove him from Silo (the church’s headquarters) and install Bishop Sandlana. They said they’d provide the weapons and the transport, and that we must be ready at about 6pm on Saturday. On Saturday Themba gave us the guns, car keys, and money and we waited for food. When the food arrived they said we must all eat the food and no one must not eat; the car keys had Sandalana’s face on them. They told us that he was the rightful heir of the church,” Thusi said.
Up to this point, there had been no justice three years after the deaths. Thusi said although he feared for his life, he had to come clean on the events of July 11.
The well-known church, which boasts a membership of 3 million in South Africa and neighbouring countries, has been engulfed in a bitter three-way conflict to succeed Glayton Modise, who died in 2016.
Thusi said he would opena case against Sandlana today. While many cases previously opened against Sandlana have been inexplicably dropped, a case opened by his wife, Benedicta Sandlana, is being heard at the Palmridge Magistrate’s Court, while a case of fraud is playing out at the High Court, Pretoria.
Sandlana has several telephone numbers. Attempts to obtain comment from him were in vain.