Claims of sex scandal land in high court
The public and several members of Archbishop Bafana Stephen Zondo’s church have lost trust in him and are treating him with suspicion following allegations of a sex scandal involving the revered clergyman and a female congregant and fellow church official.
They also no longer like him and are treating him with hostility.
These heart-rending tidbits were revealed by Zondo himself in court papers in which he applied for a court interdict in the Joburg high court against Facebook account user Solomon Izang Ashoms, who claimed on his wall that the man of the cloth’s wife, Seabi Fiki Zondo, vacated their matrimonial home after catching him red-handed bonking the church’s head
of human resources, Itumeleng Ngulela, in the church building.
The j aw-dropping post reads in part: “News reaching me is that Bishop Stephen Zondo’s wife, Seabi [Fiki] has allegedly left her matrimonial home because she found Zondo with the head of HR, Itumeleng Ngulela, allegedly having sex at the church in Zondo’s office – Rivers of Living Waters Ministries, south of Johannesburg.
I was told that her husband, Peter, is aware of the relationship and had confronted Zondo so many times about it in the past.”
Ashoms said he tried, in vain to speak to Zondo but his cellphone just rang unanswered.
He said he phoned Ngulela, who refused to talk to him about the matter.
He also claimed that he had received complaints in the past about Zondo’s alleged adultery.
“This is a man who has nothing about God in him except to come to the pulpit and lie to innocent people. False prophets, fake bishops and pastors are falling this year,” he said.
Zondo stated in his application that Ashoms’s allegations were not only untrue and malicious but were defamatory and damaging to his reputation.
He asked the court to issue him with an order directing Ashoms to delete the post, apologise to him for the harm he caused him, his family and church, and also to pay him R2-million in damages.
“Since the publication of the statements, I have been treated with severe aversion, suspicion, distrust and hostility by many people, including other members of my church as a result
of the statement. The statement has also caused severe harm and embarrassment to my family, including my wife, who is also subjected to abuse on social media,” said Zondo.
Zondo said his lawyers wrote to Ashoms and asked him to delete the post but he showed them the proverbial middle finger.
“In order to redeem my honour, I have instructed my attorney of record to institute an action for damages in the amount of R2-million for defamation of character.”
The application will be heard in court on Wednesday.
By Ngwako Malatji
ngwakom@sundayworld.co.za
Archbishop Zondo wants accuser muted
