The 61 year old pastor accused of raping and sexually grooming four teenage girls, made a brief appearance in the Qumbu regional court on Tuesday.
He was accompanied by a group of church members, mostly women.
The accused, who was arrested in September 2021, is out on R5,000 bail “with strict conditions”.
These include not being allowed to contact the girls directly or indirectly, and he is forbidden from mentioning their names in his sermons at the church.
He has been charged with four counts of rape and three counts of sexual grooming.
Due to load-shedding, Tuesday’s court proceedings could not start at 9am as scheduled, and were delayed until 2.30pm.
Attempts were made to have the matter heard at the Mthatha regional court but there was no court available to hear the matter.
NPA senior prosecutor, Mbulelo Nyendwana, addressing magistrate Noluthando Conjwa, said:
“There has been load-shedding from 9am to 1.30pm and later we have experienced the problem of recording machines which are not working.” – The accused’s lawyer was also not available.
Conjwa postponed the matter to Friday.
The Natala village pastor, based in the Ngcolokini area of Qumbu district, allegedly preyed on four girls, then aged between 13 and 17.
The girls, who are not adults, were members of his church and three of them grew up in his home as his wife is their maternal aunt.
The offences allegedly took place between 2010 and 2018.
The victims only revealed in 2020 what had allegedly happened to them after moving to another area.
