A home-based church offering charismatic services promised to “heal the vulnerable”. But behind the friendly façade, a woman pastor allegedly drugged, raped, photographed and filmed children for pornography at the church.
The woman, arrested two weeks ago, was previously convicted with her husband for the same offence. She is one of thousands of criminals released from prison on parole only to commit more crimes.
In 2000, the couple was jailed for 18 years for raping three children, one aged nine and two aged 13, including two of her own sisters. The two were released on early parole in 2009 after their sentences were reduced to 15 years on appeal. But soon after completing hers, the woman founded the church and allegedly lured young victims to her home in the Western Cape town of Worcester, using the same modus operandi.
The pastor, who cannot be named until she pleads to the charges, appeared in the Worcester magistrate's court on Tuesday on five counts of human trafficking, two of rape and 100 of possessing and creating child pornography. Her husband is under investigation.
The woman is one of thousands of criminals released from prison only to commit more crimes.
I’ve always sensed something was off about the church ... our spirits definitely clashed. Now I know why. They pretended to be a church by day on fire with God, but in the dark they idolised the devil
— Neighbour Merinda Weyer
In response to a parliamentary question by the DA two weeks ago, justice and correctional services minister Ronald Lamola said that since 2019, 99,416 prisoners had been released. Of these, 6,417 (6.5%) had gone on to commit “serious crimes” such as murder, rape, armed robbery and assault, and 16,112 had violated their parole conditions.
He added that more than 2,500 parolees released from jail since March last year had committed serious crimes and 5,399 had violated their parole conditions.
Police minister Bheki Cele shone a spotlight on the corrections department while speaking at an anti-crime imbizo in Khayelitsha on Monday, citing a man accused of killing Bontle Mashiyane, 6, five months after being paroled a second time.
The man has been charged with four others for rape, murder and trading in human body parts.
“There is that six-year-old who about two months ago died in Mpumalanga ... was disembowelled and taken apart ... (she) was abused by a person who is on two murder paroles. Two murder paroles!” Cele said, adding that it was well known that “serious crimes such as murder, cash heists and taxi violence are run from prisons”.
Cele’s spokesperson Lirandzu Themba later told the Sunday Times that Cele would raise the issue with Lamola and “it should be addressed with the urgency it deserves”.
Another parolee alleged to have committed a serious crime after his release, Milton Gasa, 42, was arrested after a dramatic shoot-out with police in Rosettenville, Johannesburg, in February.
Gasa was granted parole in 2020 after serving 16 years of a 31-year sentence for a cash-in-transit heist. He is awaiting trial on a raft of charges including murder, and possession of explosives and hijacked vehicles.
In Worcester, the arrest of the woman pastor who was “always friendly and always greeted with a smile and charisma” shocked neighbours.
Others had their suspicions.
Neighbour Merinda Weyer said: “When she and her husband moved here a couple of years ago we heard rumours that they were previously imprisoned, but we didn’t know the details ... but I’ve always sensed something was off about the ‘church’. It was not just about their music ... and the noise levels. I just didn’t like their vibe ... our spirits definitely clashed. Now I know why. They pretended to be a church by day on fire with God, but in the dark they idolised the devil.”
Correctional Services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo confirmed the pastor and her husband were paroled in August 2009 from prison in Worcester and “categorised as high risk and served parole under house arrest”.
Their conditions included visiting a local corrections office twice a month, phoning their case officer at least once a month, receiving unannounced visits at home and work, being forbidden to leave the magisterial area, and allocated specific times for shopping and job hunting by arrangement with their case officer.
“They were not supposed to be with minors, except in the presence of a third person, who should be an adult,” he said.
The woman’s sentence expired in October 2014, while her husband’s expired a month earlier.
They were not supposed to be with minors, except in the presence of a third person, who should be an adult
— Correctional Services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo
Provincial police told the Sunday Times that between 2016 and 2022 the female pastor “deceived parents of three children [who allowed] their children to sleep over at her [home].
“She drugged the children, undressed them and took pictures. One of the victims said the suspect locked her in a bedroom and told her to undress and not be uncomfortable because they were both females. She then took naked pictures of her in different angles.
“Investigations revealed that the suspect and her husband are former convicts, and both were sentenced to 15 years for rape of minor children. The husband’s involvement in this case is under investigation.”
Among the allegations she faces is one of using “deception” to sexually exploit and lure a 13-year-old girl to her home last year to produce child pornography. In another incident in May, she allegedly used similar tactics to lure another child to her house for the same purpose.
Western Cape prosecutions spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said the pastor was in custody and would reappear in court on Tuesday for a formal bail application.
Nxumalo said the parole system was under review and prisoners had to undergo some of 13 rehabilitation programmes before their release.
Despite the figures Lamola provided, Nxumalo said: “Correctional services has placed over 75,000 offenders on parole annually and the results are remarkable, as only 2% and less of those fail to comply with parole conditions, clearly indicating that social reintegration of offenders can work when done properly, whereby there is a cohesive working relationship between correctional officials and communities.”
The spokesperson for the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services, Emerantia Cupido, said there was insufficient supervision of parolees in SA and prisons lacked adequate and effective rehabilitation programmes.
She said the parole system was inept and cumbersome in two ways: “Some prisoners are granted parole wrongly, leading to horrific incidents and tragedy, but equally many are fully deserving of parole but are either denied it or caught up in protracted processes.”
While some relapse into crime, she said: “For the overwhelming part, the majority of parolees do not lapse.”
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