MEMBERS OF THE IPHC HAD A FIELD DAY AT THE HIGH COURT

Members of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church ( IPHC) had a field day at the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday.

This as they had to attend two court cases involving the affairs of the church as well as a protest march that was staged outside the court.

National Spokesperson of the IPHC Vusi Ndala told Tshwane Talks that the first court case involved the issue of evicting some people from the church’s properties and it emerged that though the funds of the church have been frozen, they were somehow fraudulently accessed.

“This matter didn’t sit due to the incompetence of the court as well as the delaying tactics used by those who need to be evicted from the said premises,” he said.

Ndala said no judge was assigned to hear the matter in court and that the case will be re-enrolled in court between April and June this year.

Ndala explained that the second issue that brought members of the IPHC to court was that of disputes involving three factions of the church, namely Jerusalem based in Pretoria under Bishop Michael Sandlana, Zuurbekom under the leadership of Frederick Modise and the East Rand faction under Tshepo Modise.

These factions got involved in a succession battle for the leadership of the IPHC soon after the death of the founder of the church, Comforter Bishop Glayton Modise in 2016.

“In July 2023 the leaders of the other factions withdrew permanently from the succession battle and the matter was considered to be settled, but a fourth faction consisting of disgruntled former members of the church emerged, demanding that all the three factions who have previously been involved in a succession battle for the leadership of the church be removed and that the church must be placed under the leadership of an Executive Committee,” he said.

“Their mission that the church must be one and not have any factions has good intentions, but where they are failing is that they want all leaders of the three factions including our leader Bishop Michael Sandlana to be removed from the church, and this is where they have misdirected themselves because the church doesn’t operate like that,” said Ndala.

“Interestingly, this disgruntled group hasn’t been saying anything about the matter or challenging it for eight years since 2016 when the High Court started dealing with it until 2023,” enthused Ndala.

He emphasised that the disgruntled group only filed an application to dispute the leadership of the church in August 2024 and that this is an indication that the group does not know whether they are coming or going; that they are ill informed about the issues at hand.

“Their intentions now become questionable because they should have approached any of the factions that were involved in the succession battle and raised their concerns from inside those factions,” said Ndala.

“Judgement has been reserved in this matter and we shall wait for the date of the delivery of judgment,” he explained.

To people who are disgruntled and making disparaging statements about the IPHC, Ndala said the following:

“Justice must be served and whoever is disgruntled and making unfounded accusations against us must come forward and not run away, and they must stop using delaying tactics like claiming that their lawyers have withdrawn from the case and are seeking more time to appoint new ones.”

Outside the court human rights activist Golden Miles Bhudu, wearing chains that symbolise the imprisonment of IPHC leader Bishop Michael Sandlana, chanted slogans in praise of Sandlana and said there is corruption in the justice system among the police and the judges while in the process calling for the downfall of all those who are corrupt, thieves and witches.

“As a person who is familiar with legal proceedings, I can’t understand why our leader Bishop Michael Sandlana is being denied bail, or do they maybe want to poison him and kill him?he asked.

“If the intention is to kill our leader, then South Africa won’t be the country that we used to know anymore,” he warned.

“If our Honourable Bishop Michael Sandlana can be subjected to trumped-up charges like this, then that means you and I as ordinary people would be treated four or five times worse than this,” he said, much to the appreciation of the gathered IPHC members.

More than 1000 members of the IPHC attended the court proceedings and also picketed outside the court in solidarity with the leader of the church Bishop Michael Sandlana who is presently in prison while awaiting trial.