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“The right to privacy does not give the right to secrecy.”
These were the words of Judge Leonie Windell, who rejected the urgent injunction of Archbishop Stephen Zondo and Pastor Lydia Malete to stop the investigative hearings of the CRL Rights Commission on alleged sexual abuse, infidelity and financial misconduct in the Rivers of Living Waters ministries.
The couple claimed that the hearings had opened them up to public humiliation.
Malete, senior pastor of the church, was invited by the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL Rights Commission) to give her testimony on Monday, but presented an urgent injunction to Zondo to stop hearings in response.
In his urgent request earlier this week, Zondo asked the court to stop the hearings because they had left him embarrassed and in physical danger, also arguing that the commission was not authorized by law to act as a commission of inquiry.
“The accusations against the archbishop and the members of the church are baseless, degrading, insulting and, most importantly, violate the constitutional rights of the archbishop and the members of the church. In particular, the constitutional rights of dignity, privacy, association and freedom of religion ”, read their documents.
Judge Windell told the court in her sentencing that the allegations had been made in public before the investigative hearings were held in November and that appearing before the commission would give the couple the right to set the record straight. .
“By appearing before the commission, their rights to dignity will not be unreasonably limited, the applicants’ only complaint in this regard is that they will feel embarrassed by having to answer questions in a regulatory investigation, this is clearly insufficient. that they cannot testify behind closed doors. The commission has already granted a request. Even if your complaint about dignity has merit, testimony behind closed doors would completely eliminate this concern, “he said.
Although Windell denied the request with costs, the attorneys for Zondo and Malete have not retracted and have asked to appeal the ruling.
Zondo had also filed a complaint with the speaker of parliament, requesting that the chairman of the commission, David Mosoma, be investigated for misconduct under article 17 of the CRL Act, for which he could be removed from office if he is pleads guilty.
In response documents, the CRL argued that Zondo’s right to dignity had not been violated and that Zondo’s request was not urgent.
“The purpose of the applicant’s request, as I have mentioned, is to thwart the statutory function of the commission. The applicants seek to avoid giving evidence and being questioned in an investigation related to allegations of abuse suffered by former members of Rivers Ministries while congregating as members of the church, “he said in his affidavit.
The appeal will be heard Monday morning, just four hours before Malete is due to testify.
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