Pastor and politician Jerome Swartz heads a church seeking to help Christian souls move closer to heaven.
Meanwhile, Standard Bank has targeted Swartz's real estate here on Earth, including his upmarket home in Cape Town.
Swartz's R10m home in Strawberry Lane, Constantia, goes under the hammer next week after the liquidation of his companies and the sequestration of his and his wife's joint estate.
Several other properties are also due to sold after a ruling last year by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA), the latest legal blow in a long-running battle with the bank.
Swartz had sought to overturn an earlier provisional liquidation of two of his companies on the grounds that one of them had been placed in business rescue. However, the SCA decision made both the liquidations and the sequestration order final.
Swartz and his wife, Lucille, lead the Cape Town-based Jesus Celebration International (JCI) Church, which claims to have 40 satellite branches in George and elsewhere in the Western Cape. Swartz is also founder and leader of the African Restoration Alliance (ARA) political party. He was previously part of the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), from which he split in 2020 after an apparent dispute with party leaders.
Standard Bank declined to comment on the nature of the commercial dispute, which remains unclear. However, court documents in the public domain list the two liquidated companies as Pygon Trading and JCICC Network. The companies held various commercial accounts with Standard Bank.
Swartz could not be reached to clarify the church's financial standing. He was reportedly not at home when the Sunday Times visited the Constantia property, where an unidentified woman answered the intercom at the front gate. The well-kept home flanks an attractive green belt, and a gardener was working in the front flower bed. A red SUV was parked in the driveway alongside a detached basketball pole and net.
The 2,349m² property has attracted considerable attention from prospective buyers, according to Zain Teegler from WH Auctions, which is managing the sale of the sequestrated estate. “Many people are phoning me, even from abroad,” Teegler told the Sunday Times this week. “Location-wise it speaks for itself — we all know how affluent that area of Constantia is.”
He said forced sales of insolvent estates were uncommon in upmarket Constantia, where the list of homeowners past and present includes the likes of the Gupta family, Mark Thatcher and the acclaimed novelist Wilbur Smith. “Therefore when there is a forced sale it attracts a lot of attention.”
Teegler said the auction would go ahead whether or not he was able to access the property, which to date he has not been able to do.
A well-placed Constantia property source said it may be difficult to dislodge Swartz from the property, and evictions could deter potential buyers. However, Teegler said the prospect of unlawful occupation was unlikely to affect market appetite for a well-located Constantia property.
Other properties due to be sold include commercial Cape Town properties and a 30ha rural plot close to Pringle Bay.
ACDP leader Kenneth Meshoe this week confirmed that Swartz had broken away from the ACDP “but did not take many members with him” when forming the ARA.
According to the IEC's final tally in the 2024 national elections, the ARA received 11,000 votes countrywide, of which 7,500 were in the Western Cape. The party contested the election result, pointing out that the total showed a significant decline from its 2021 total.
JCI was established in 2001, with a head office in Century City, according to the church's website.
“Believing that every person is born to lead, Dr Jerome and Ps Lucille are committed to providing a platform for the growth and development of leadership,” the website says.
ARA city councillor Grant Classen said Swartz still enjoyed significant support, both from his church and political constituency. He echoed Swartz's view that the court battle stemmed from a political conspiracy, but gave no further details.
“The merits of this case, it is totally bonkers,” Classen said. “Whenever a brown man wants to arise in South Africa, to take our place and do something for our country, this is normally the case.
“This is all because of politics. We are definitely standing 100% behind Dr Swartz. This is a bank coming down on a person who has done absolutely nothing wrong. For ARA, this will only push us forward because our leaders are 100% with Dr Swartz and what he is going though.”
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