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- On the last day of his time in Gauteng, the CRL Rights Commission heard heartbreaking testimony about alleged abuses at the KwaSizabantu Mission.
- Maritjie Bothma testified about years of sexual abuse and assault on the mission and said that she ultimately attempted suicide.
- Mmeli Sibisi, who is the nephew of mission leader Lidia Dube, said the mission made empty promises to workers when it began to develop its business entities.
In a day filled with heartbreaking testimony Thursday, former members of the controversial KwaSizabantu Mission told CRL’s Rights Commission about disturbing experiences of abuse at the hands of members and leaders firsthand.
The commission is investigating allegations of abuse at KwaSizabantu after a News24 exposure.
Maritjie Bothma battled a surge of emotions as she recounted years of alleged sexual abuse and assault on the mission, which she said began as a child in the home of mission leader Erlo Stegen.
Bothma said she was forced to “suck the breasts” of Stegen’s daughters, Ruth Combrink and Elizabeth Vermaak, who “tormented” her as a child.
Through tears and gasping, Bothma said the abuse continued at her home and at school, adding that she was sexually abused by her mission counselor.
When Bothma tried to report her counselor, she said she was locked in a tiny room for days, apparently a common punishment for Bothma.
She said:
Whenever you were naughty in class … they would come into class with coworkers and point out the ‘naughty kids’ and put you on the table and hit you in front of the class.
“If you didn’t respond to the beating, they would take you to Erlo Stegen’s house, to his room, where they would beat you,” Bothma said through tears.
Over time, he began to express his unwillingness to be on the mission and “began to communicate with … visitors in KwaSizabantu” for which he received brutal punishment.
Bothma sobbed:
They made my mother open a Lux soap and I had to chew it, and the more I threw up soap they hit me on the back.
After years of abuse, Bothma explained that she “couldn’t take it anymore” and tried to commit suicide.
Coworkers
Lawyer Sibisi, his sister Ndumi Sibisi and his brother Mbonisi Sibisi also shared their testimony before the commission on Thursday.
The Sibisi family is related to the leader of the mission, Lidia Dube.
Speaking on behalf of his family, Mmeli Sibisi, Dube’s nephew, said that co-workers at the mission were not paid fairly, and in some cases, were not paid at all for their mission work.
Sibisi said:
Upon arrival, you are made to understand that you are here as a volunteer; expect no salary, no salary, no remuneration.
“But as the mission began to have for-profit entities supporting the work of the ministry, the general expectation was that co-workers would start to earn a living.”
While the mission would pay those who were general workers, “they would not pay the coworkers, the shepherds,” Sibisi said.
These co-workers would need to live off their volunteer work, even though the mission received “donations to the left, right and center” that were aimed at uplifting the community.
When Quellé started, Sibisi said, they told their parents that since they had worked the mission for so long, they would receive dividends from the company.
Sibisi said they were told “their lives would get better” but “it never happened.”
He explained that they had to apply for funds from NSFAS despite “our parents … sitting in these entities as trustees and directors.”
Sibisi said:
Our parents understood that they were there only in a representative capacity, so they sit in aQuellé as directors, they sit in the board meetings in aQuellé, here are the bank statements that are read – how much money was being earned – everything is Consider money from the KwaSizabantu Mission.
42 children expelled
Sibisi also recalled that the mission school expelled 42 children at once in 2010, including Sibisi’s younger sister and two cousins, for apparently not showing “enthusiasm” for the school.
He said he and others reached out to lawyers, the KwaZulu-Natal legislature and the provincial executive committee, but their action did not elicit any reaction from the mission.
It was not until Sibisi and his team threatened legal action that KwaSizabantu responded and reinstated the children.
Sibisi, who also implicated KwaSizabantu leaders in abuses, said they must be held accountable for their actions regardless of when the alleged abuse occurred.
“The only thing the mission will fight you for is responsibility … if you hold them to account, they will come out firing guns,” Sibisi said.
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