‘GAY PASTOR’S CHURCH FORCED TO CLOSE DOWN

SIPHOFANENI – Is this the end of the Siphofaneni-based church which used to be headed by a pastor who is allegedly gay?

This seems to be the case following that the church has been closed for almost two months, prompting some congregants to join other churches nearby while others still worship together in their private residences.

The church was closed following a recommendation made by a body of pastors, which oversees the operations of churches within the Madlenya chiefdom.
According to a former official of the defunct church, the last church service was held almost two months ago, before the Easter services.
The allegedly bisexual pastor has reportedly opened a new church not far from the area, former officials of the defunct church revealed.

“The body of pastors operating within the Madlenya chiefdom recommended that we shut down until we fix all the problems plaguing the church. Some of us worship in our homes every Sunday,” said a former official of the defunct church.

The body of pastors, which works closely with traditional authorities of the area, reportedly reached the decision to close down the church following confrontations between a small faction which supported the allegedly gay pastor and another faction which backed the decision by the church administration to demote the pastor.

It is understood that the committee of pastors in the chiefdom decided to shut down the church, because the continued confrontations between the two factions and the media reports of the matter were grossly embarrassing traditional authorities of the area.
When sought for comment, the chairman of the Pastor’s committee within Madlenya chiefdom, said he could not comment on the matter because it had been referred to traditional authorities.

Chairman

“There is nothing I can say. The matter will now be dealt with by the chief’s inner-council,” said the chairman, who only identified himself as Pastor Matse.
Matse had been asked to explain why the committee recommended that the church should shut down.
“By now the inner-council would have ruled on the matter, but the ruling has been delayed because the inner-council had suspended its sittings due to national events,” he added. The area’s headman could not be reached for comment.

Calls made to his mobile phone could not go through, apparently due to network interruptions.
However, the former chairman of the church confirmed that it had shut down, but he referred all questions to the church bishop.
“We remain hopeful that the church will reopen once the issues have been dealt with,” he stated.

Bishop

Attempts to get a comment from the church bishop were unsuccessful, as calls made to his mobile phone could not go through.
The church has had a turbulent period in the last three months.
It all started when the leaking of an audio recording, whereby a voice purported to be that of the allegedly bisexual pastor, is overheard proposing love to another man.

The church administration responded by suspending the pastor while also investigating the matter.
The church was temporarily closed down while members were awaiting a decision from the church bishop.
Subsequently, the pastor was demoted and the church was reopened.

A new pastor was introduced to members but this did not stop the faction of supporters of the allegedly bisexual  pastor, from demanding that he (allegedly bisexual pastor) be compensated for his efforts in building the church.
On April 5, this publication reported that the allegedly bisexual pastor had been caught red-handed allegedly vandalising the church’s property (bricks).

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