International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC) leader Michael Sandlana has rejected pleas to move his branch back to the church’s original headquarters after receiving a tip-off that there were bodies buried in the church precinct.
Sandlana was asked if he could return to Silo, west of Joburg, by his council who left with him to start his own branch, Jerusalem, after a much-publicised tiff with his half -brothers Tshepiso and Leonard Modise.
But the clergyman steadfastly refused, saying he had gathered intelligence that the bodies of congregants of his faction who were shot and killed there three years ago were buried there, some in the sewerage system.
The five men were ambushed while driving to a church branch in Nigel, Ekurhuleni, and taken to the church premises, where they were shot and burned on July 11, 2020 for allegedly belonging to Sandlana’s clique. After the shooting episode, cops raided the church and impounded 68 firearms including 17 rifles, 24 shotguns and 27 pistols linked to the fatal shootings.
It is alleged a pump actionpistol officially registered to one of the church leaders was also confiscated. Preliminary investigation revealed that it was used by two Johannesburg police officers to shoot at congregants.
Detailing the incident, Sandlana’s coterie complained that a group of armed men blitzed into the church’s headquarters in Zuurbekom in the early hours of July 11, 2020, killing the five men. Shortly after the shooting, police arrested 42 people and linked them to the murders of the five victims, but the case was struck off the roll in December last year.
The fight for the church leadership started shortly after the death of Bishop Glayton Modise in 2016, who left behind a legacy reportedly worth R400-million, who left R50-million in cash as well as a number of luxury vehicles and properties.
Sandlana, who is the first-born son of Modise from his previous relationship, produced a will which stated that he was the rightful heir to throne. Tshepiso and Leonard challenged the authenticity of the will. As a result, the church was divided into three groupings, each led by one of the brothers. Leonard remained in Silo, while Tshepiso moved to Kwa-Thema, Springs, in Ekurhuleni.
But last week, Tshepiso and Leonard withdrew their application in the Pretoria High Court to challenge Sandlana’s imminent ascendancy to the throne, prompting his council to nuzzle him to return to Silo. Sandlana spokesperson pastor Vusi Ndala confirmed that the renowned clergyman has sneezed at the request to return to Silo.
“We can confirm that our leader has expressed reservations about going there now. We have given those who remained there 14 days to vacate the venue but we will not move back there immediately because of the intelligence we gathered that there are corpses that were buried in sewerage there.
“Once they move out, we will ask the police to comb and clean the place up before we move in,” said Ndala.
He added they were also worried that if the corpses were found after they moved in, the law enforcement agencies might hold them accountable.
“That is why we need a clean-up before we can move back in there,” he said.
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