Johannesburg – The first witness who gave her testimony on Monday continued today detailing her version of events of what transpired between her and Archbishop Steven Bafana Zondo of Rivers of Living Waters Church to the court.
Zondo found himself on the wrong side of the law after seven women accused him of rape and sexual assault on separate occasions at different venues.
“The accused did everything in his power to make me fully understand that nobody needed to know about our secret,” she further said.
She then went on to state that the third incident happened a few weeks after the second one, and this time the alleged victim was playing outside with his brother Jabu Zondo.
The alleged victim told the court that Zondo again wanted her to wash his socks.
“By then I already knew what socks he was referring to, as I was walking towards the bedroom and as I entered I made a noise and cried out,” she said.
“He said to me don’t make a nuisance of yourself you know exactly what we came here to do, yet you’re crying and making unnecessary noise.”
The alleged victim told the court that the third time was different, was not the same as the other two incidents, because now this time he was angry, so he was rough.
“After the incident, he wiped both of us but this time he only gave me R1 and there were no sweets this time. A few days after I no longer felt comfortable around or let alone be left alone with the accused so I ran away from my great grandparents house.”
The alleged victim told the court that she ran away to her parental home as it was not very far from where she was.
When she got there nobody was home and she sat outside the stoep and never returned, she further explained.
The first person that the alleged victim told about what transpired between her and the accused was her brother Jabu, she said.
Although the alleged victim told the court that she doesn’t recall which year it was, but it was shortly after she had moved into her house around the year 2008/2009 when the victim’s brother had visited her.
“I only told him the gist of the matter and didn’t get into much deeper details. After some time I received a call from the sister of the accused who worked at a radio station, and she told me about how they are helping people who have been through what I have been through,” the alleged victim further said.
“I then went to the radio station and spoke about my experience, I opened a case in May 2020 after I had spoken on radio.”
She went to say that later, she received a call informing her of a family meeting where the accused and some other family members were present.
There were discussions as to how the matter was going to be solved, a cleansing was suggested as this was a disgrace, according to the witness.
The alleged victim shared that she clearly stated that she wanted nothing from the accused, and her mother was not well to a point where she never attended the meeting.
“I then met with the accused alone and he had asked what kind of compensation I wanted and I clearly stated I wanted nothing. He further suggested that he would let me use his medical aid for all the trauma I had suffered, should it exhaust I could also use his wife’s medical aid. I was later told that I was influenced by the accused sister to say what I had said, so he said he needed to pray for me and everything will be fine,” she further said.
The witness was then cross-examined by the defense.
The defence cross-examined the witness and asked how many statements she has made prior to today.
The witness shared she only recalls one statement she made at the Booysens police station in Joburg.
The defence then asked why the witness didn’t open a case close to where she resides and chose Booysens.
The witness said she opened the case at Booysens police station because she wanted to open a case where she felt safe and would open the case without any fear.
There were several discussions held between the defence and the witness about the dates of when the incidents occurred.
It was then ruled that proceedings will continue tomorrow as the witness is given time to refresh her memory.
Also read:
Archbishop Zondo gets his day in court
Zondo trial to start with defence on back foot
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