VUYO MKIZE
THE ARCHBISHOP who was arrested for raping a minor last week has been suspended from his duties – effective immediately.
This comes after 29 Apostolic churches around Soweto banded together to form the Concerned Soweto Apostolic Churches Leadership Organisation to deal with the allegations.
The archbishop, who is in his fifties and runs a church from his home, is said to have raped the 14-year-old girl in his Dobsonville home. He was also a member of the Scholar Transport Organisation.
In a press briefing held at the Department of Education’s district office in Soweto yesterday, members of the leadership group showed solidarity on their stance.
Commenting on the matter, Archbishop Diketso Kwapeng said that subsequent to the arrest of the man on Thursday, the leadership group convened an urgent meeting on Christmas Eve to discuss the implications.
“The leadership has therefore chosen to distance itself from this occurrence, and we do not condone the abuse of women and children. The leadership will, however, continue to provide spiritual and emotional support to all parties concerned.
“The leadership will also let the legal proceedings take their course. However, the alleged perpetrator will be suspended and not allowed to perform any leadership duties in our midst pending the outcome of the court proceedings,” Kwapeng said.
He conceded that the allegation would tarnish the image of churches in the area, but said that as leaders of the various churches in Soweto, they felt the need to clear their doctrine’s reputation.
“We don’t have the full details and haven’t spoken to the alleged victim or the archbishop because we do not want to interfere with the court process.
“This is the first allegation of its kind ever to come to our attention, and we feel that it gives others who have possibly had the same experience the opportunity to come out so we can help them emotionally and spiritually.”
Kwapeng added that while they understood the minor was pregnant, they didn’t want to speculate over the paternity of the child because they did not have the full details.
The Faith Based Organisation (FBO) from Soweto also released a statement distancing itself from the matter. It stated: “We encourage the community to come forward for assistance to the FBO with such incidents and are going to ensure that positive educational values that are taught in schools are also preached in our churches and communities.”
The arrested cleric was expected to appear in the Roodepoort Magistrate’s Court today.