Johannesburg – Despite being defeated several times in court, Mduduzi “Unyazilwezulu” Shembe – the disputed leader of the Nazareth Baptist Church popularly known as Shembe – refuses to surrender the eBuhleni temple, the church’s headquarters to the winning faction, arguing that it is his ancestral home.
In the ongoing tussle over the leadership of the church, the faction supporting Phinda “Ukukhanyakwelanga” Shembe, which wants control of the headquarters, is preparing to approach the Durban High Court to seek an order to force Unyazilwezulu to leave the temple immediately or risk being hounded out by the police.
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Thokozani Mncwabe, the spokesperson for Unyazilwezulu’s faction, confirmed to Sunday World that their leader had received correspondence from the lawyers representing Ukukhanyakwelanga, the current leader of the church, as pronounced by the Constitutional Court.
Ukukhanyakwelanga succeeded his late brother Vela “Misebeyelanga” Shembe, who initially took the leadership dispute to court.
“I can confirm that Inkosi Unyazi received a letter from the lawyers that wanted him to vacate eBuhleni on the grounds that it was owned by the church and served as its headquarters.
“But he replied that eBuhleni was his ancestral home and belonged to his grandfather [Amos] Inyangayezulu [Shembe].
“He was born and raised at eBuhleni and we strongly believe that it would be undesirable to force someone to leave one’s parent’s home,” said Mncwabe.
The eBuhleni temple is in eMatabetulu under the Inanda area, south of Durban. It is considered a holy place and only barefoot parishioners are allowed to enter.
Politicians such as Nelson Mandela, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Jacob Zuma and President Cyril Ramaphosa have visited the temple.
Atop the mountain are residential houses for the Shembe family.
It is also home to trusted devotees of the church who are in close proximity to the disputed leader Unyazilwezulu. The mountain also serves as the resting place for departed church leaders.
Nkululeko Mthethwa, speaking for Ukukhanyakwelanga, confirmed that they were preparing an application to the high court “Papers are still being drafted. Once they are finished and filed, we will be able to share it, we can’t comment on it for now,” said Mthethwa .
In June, the Constitutional Court lifted the cloud of uncertainty over who was the legitimate leader of the church. For more than 10 years, the Shembe church, with more than 5-million followers, has been rocked by leadership squabbles stemming from the passing of its much-revered leader Vimbeni “Uthingolwenkosazana” Shembe in 2011.
Shortly after his passing, two self-proclaimed leaders emerged, both jostling for the vacant position and arguing that they were anointed to follow in his footsteps.
Unyazilwezulu, the charismatic leader who commands a cult-like following, was squaring off with his late paternal uncle Misebeyelanga, who died of natural causes in 2013, before the succession question could be resolved in the court.
The Durban High Court, in what would be a string of court cases, ruled in favour of Misebeyelanga and ordered that Unyazilwezulu relinquish his power to his paternal uncle, including the church headquarters in eBuhleni.
Unyazilwezulu appealed the ruling.
In 2018, the Pietermaritzburg High Court again upheld the previous ruling. But he took the matter to the Supreme Court of Appeal, and again he was defeated.
The ConCourt subsequently sealed his fate, ordering that he should desist from calling himself the leader of the church.
Unyazilwezulu drags council into dispute
Inkosi Mqoqi Ngcobo of the amaQadi traditional council covering Inanda and surrounding areas will once again be the central figure in the Shembe church debacle.
Unyazilwezulu, who has been ordered to vacate his leadership position and the church headquarters, has now pinned his hopes on the traditional leader. He is hoping the traditional leader will corroborate his version that eBuhleni does not belong to the church, arguing that it is his family home.
During Uthingolwenkosazana funeral in 2011, pandemonium reigned as Ngcobo told mourners that the late leader had confided in him that he had appointed his son Unyazilwezulu to lead the church.
Later in the day, Zwelabantu Buthelezi – the late leader’s lawyer – rebutted Ngcobo’s version, telling the mourners that the late leader had appointed Misebeyelanga as the heir of the Shembe church and had writt en a nomination lett er and signed it.
After the announcement, two factions emerged: the Thembezinhle faction led by Misebeyelanga until his death and later taken over by Ukukhanyakwelanga, and the eBuhleni faction led by Unyazilwezulu.
The Shembe estate is worth about R1-billion, with assets in commercial farms, property and other business investments.
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