Home | News | ELIJAH FIRE E10M LAWSUIT: I HAVE OVER 450 000 FOLLOWERS – APOSTLE JUSTICE

ELIJAH FIRE E10M LAWSUIT: I HAVE OVER 450 000 FOLLOWERS – APOSTLE JUSTICE

23/08/2022 09:29:00 Kwanele Dlamini

Font size:

MBABANE – Worship Centre founder Apostle Justice Dlamini yesterday told the court that over 450 000 people follow his sermons in various platforms.

The apostle was in court for the continuation of the matter in which he is suing the founder of Hope Restoration Church, Muzi Mkhemetelo Mkhatshwa, popularly known as Prophet Elijah Fire. The apostle is demanding E10 million from Mkhasthwa for alleged defamation of character. During re-examination by his attorney, Sidumo Mdladla of SV Mdladla and Associates, Apostle Dlamini was asked for the number of members of his church. The church, according to Dlamini, had been mentioned by Mkhatshwa in an audio that was circulated on social media where the defamatory allegations were made against him and his church. “Roughly, how many members do you have in your church?” asked Mdladla.

Dlamini said the members were in two categories. He said there were those who were formally registered in the various branches of the church; Mbabane, Nhlangano, Manzini, Nelspruit and Schoemansdal in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. The apostle said it was difficult to state how many members were there but estimated each branch to have 500 members. In the five branches, he said the members totalled about 2 500. He went on to explain that at the Voice of the Church (VOC), where his programme had been running for 16 years, he was informed that the listenership was over 350 000. On YouTube, according to Dlamini, his followers were 7 000, on Facebook there were 52 000 and 45 000 followers on Tiktok.

He further mentioned that the church had platforms on three Dstv channels and per station, the indicators showed that the church had a high following. Mdladla asked the apostle if he was aware whether members of his church knew of the disseminated audio recording. Dlamini said he was aware because questions were asked in all branches of the church as to what was happening. He told the court that his wish was to make the church members aware that they were working on amicably resolving the matter. By saying they wanted to find an amicable solution to the issue, Dlamini said he meant that their approach was to handle the matter according to Christian principles and engage Mkhatshwa because the issue affected a number of people. The apostle confirmed that Mkhatshwa stated in the circulated audio that it had gone viral.

Professional

Dlamini said he was called by Mdladla, who informed him about the audio and he mentioned that he regarded the latter as a family friend. He said he did not call him on a professional basis. Dlamini said they discussed how the matter could be best handled without involving the courts, which was why he called the president of the Conference of Swaziland Churches.
According to the apostle, most of the calls he received after the audio had been circulated were from individuals, predominantly pastors, church members and those he had a close friendship with in the clergy and others who benefitted from his work, among others. The apostle also said: “I was surprised when my sister who works at the UN (United Nations) Embassy in New York and another who works at the SABC in South Africa, enquired about the audio and I did not ask where they got it from.”

Prophet Elijah Fire alleged that when he accused Dlamini of bribing a former Eswatini Observer journalist to write negatively about him, he was relying on what had been said by a junior pastor in his church. The junior pastor of Hope Restoration Church, According to Mkhatshwa, was Mxolisi Mdziniso. Mkhatshwa accused Dlamini of paying the former Eswatini Observer journalist, Delisa Thwala, E15 000 to write negatively about him (Mkhatshwa). Mkhatshwa’s attorney, Meluleki Ndlangamandla, during the cross-examination, stated that the prophet’s evidence would be that he didn’t know about the falsity of the allegations made about Thwala. He said when Mkhatshwa made those utterances, he was relying on the word of Mdziniso, his junior pastor.

On another note, Ndlangamandla further enquired from Dlamini as to how he had arrived at the E10 million he was demanding from Mkhathswa. “I considered the scope of the people who are touched by my life daily and I took into account the public speaking and damage caused by this in my life,” said the apostle. “No expert was engaged to quantify the damage occasioned to your reputation, like actuaries?” asked Ndlangamandla. Dlamini said he did not engage any actuary. “Can we agree that the E10 million is your opinion, guess work; there is nothing documented to show how you reached it,” said Ndlangamandla.