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- One woman testified that she was kicked out of the KwaSizabantu mission for watching a DVD movie.
- She said the rules were strict and if they were broken they faced swift and decisive punishment.
- He claimed to have knowledge of many cases of abuse and even one murder.
A woman testifying before the CRL Rights Commission has detailed allegations of mental, physical and sexual abuse at the KwaSizabantu Mission in KwaZulu-Natal, where she was expelled for watching a DVD movie.
Although her life began with conflict and abuse, she found her way to the KwaSizabantu Mission in search of love, direction, and guidance, but encountered the same abuse and pain that she had previously suffered.
She cannot be identified to protect a rape victim mentioned in her testimony Tuesday, but the woman has described horrific accounts of sexual abuse, lies and God-complexions on the now infamous mission.
His story began in 1990 when he went through difficult times and went on a mission, a place that he felt could bring him refuge and healing.
“My life before KwaSizabantu was anything but a good time. I come from a life of abuse. I was abused as a child and I was abused as an adult, it was very difficult. I did not know how to love or experience love or know what I was experiencing. happening on the mission, I knew these people cared, so I gave it my all. Until one day I made a mistake. “
Don’t hide what God created under your clothes
She recalled being taken to a counselor’s home in one of her early days.
“At the time, I was wearing dresses, pants and makeup. The counselor asked him if God had said anything to me the night before.
“He told me I don’t like the way God made me because I’m putting on makeup. He said that’s why I’m wearing pants, because you’re hiding what God created under your clothes. He told me maybe it’s better to wear a dress, wash my face and bring all my makeup and pants. “
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But that was all he came to the mission with.
“I told myself that I was going on the mission and that I should look my best. I took the makeup to the counselor with great enthusiasm, not knowing what he would do. He said I could leave it there. I never thought about it again until we had a fire service “.
Fire service
A fire service was used to “get rid of everything that affected your faith.”
“All my clothes and makeup were thrown into the fire. I was very disappointed. I never asked about makeup again and stopped living with it. I made sure that every day I would confess everything in my mind and soul. If I looked bad at a man, I would confess my sins. “
He worked in the kitchen at KwaSizabantu, but was apparently not paid.
“When you deliver, you are rich as a worker, you really are someone. I did that for many years. Finally, I was entrusted with the work at school. I did the sewing and repair at school.”
I’m sorry I couldn’t save my niece from KwaSizabantu
She said that what she most regretted was her niece, who lived on the mission after her; she was allegedly raped.
He said his niece was accused of “having a spirit that breaks marriages.”
“They left her in the KwaSizabantu hospital. Those in the hospital … have mental problems and are sick.”
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She said her niece was called to confess that she had a spirit that breaks up marriages.
“Every day they called her for hours and she had to confess, and they accused her of having spirit. In the end, they locked her in a little room.”
He said that he was in contact with his niece during that period.
“He would call me and tell me I had to go to the aunts,” he said, referring to the mission’s senior leaders.
“They also took the phone from him for a certain time and then put it away for five minutes.”
He said he felt personally responsible for disappointing his niece.
“I did my best to get her out, but I didn’t have the financial means to get her out immediately. The mission says she is a liar and [that her rape] It never happened. They don’t know we were in contact the whole time. “
And then they made her go
Her departure from the mission, as many before her have said, was short and cold.
READ ALSO | ‘A smear campaign’: KwaSizabantu’s response to a series of accusations
She recalled that in the early 2000s she needed a foot operation in Pretoria. Before the operation, she took care of her friends.
“They were going overseas and they needed someone at home. On their DVD shelf, they have a DVD called Pearl Harbor. This DVD was on the shelf and open, so they had already seen it. They had their niece living with them. Her. He said, let’s watch a DVD. I took the one on the shelf and looked at it. “
Then he went to Pretoria for the operation and didn’t think to confess “because I didn’t think there was anything wrong with watching the DVD.”
“There was nothing that I thought was a sin. If you sin on the mission, if you said something about someone, you had to run to your counselor and confess. If you didn’t, they will call you and say that someone else will confess.” your sin for you. “
His fears of confession were not unfounded.
She said she was called into an office with the highest-ranking KwaSizabantu leaders, including Erlo Stegen and Michael Ngubane, among others.
Here, they asked him if he had a confession, referring to the DVD he had seen.
“I had completely forgotten about that. I still wanted to confess.”
But she said it was too late, that Stegen had already fired her.
“He said that for 12 years you have been playing games with God and that your religion meant nothing. He said stay away from me, I don’t want to see you anymore. I felt like God was driving me away. Even today, I’m not sure.” I will return to God, fear makes me think that God will never accept me again and that God will not accept me in heaven. “
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He said that, in the expulsion process, you are immediately isolated.
“When they kick you out, no one will come to talk to you. You have to leave immediately.”
She also claimed to have been sexually abused “by one of the main leaders of the mission.”
“Many things happened to me, I was sexually abused by Mr. Kunene, I was sexually abused by him and other people in the mission.
“It makes me afraid and ashamed. It changed me. When I got to the mission, I thought it was a wonderful place. I was wrong. As long as you can do something for them and contribute to their work and add value to what they want, you are good.”
He also claimed to have knowledge of a murder on the mission.
“In 2001, a young woman was murdered and raped on the mission. Sexual abuse has been going on for a long time, this is since 1990.”
She also testified that she tried to alert church leaders when another member tried to sleep with her.
“They told me not to give it too much importance. They said that member was probably sleepwalking. I know he wanted to sleep with me, he got into my bed.
Apparently, child abuse was also witnessed.
“I saw beaten children, white children and black children. I saw a father beat a child because they were a bit cheeky. Once they told me that on the mission we beat the child until the child was silent, then we beat the child because they are naughty “.
Public figures have been misled
He said public figures influenced by the mission hadn’t seen the whole picture.
“The king [Goodwill Zwelithini] and KwaSizabantu are close. We literally bow to the king. Yes [Prince Mangosuthu] Buthelezi comes, they treat him in the best way. Nobody sees what happens behind closed doors. It’s unreal. “
He said they also underpaid people who worked at the complex.
“A school teacher currently earns 4,000 rand per month. [leadership] get rich off the blood of normal people who work hard for them. The truth behind it is that KwaSizabantu abuses the trust that people place in you. “
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