Congregants of a Mdantsane church have boycotted their place of worship for the past three Sundays in protest against their rector who is facing charges of maladministration and cult-like practices.
Congregants say Rector Phumzile Mpumlwana of St Francis offended people deeply when he tried to wake up a dead woman last January, hurting her family.
Mpumlwana, who has led the NU8 parish for 11 years, is also accused of recruiting congregants for another church, the Tim Omotoso Ministries.
Yesterday elderly people and youth braved the cold and blocked the Sunday service from taking place. This was the third protest in a month.
The Anglican dean in Grahamstown, Andrew Hunter, confirmed that investigations by the Diocese of Grahamstown were taking place into the parish leadership.
Hunter said: “We are aware that the concerned group has stopped all worshipping in the church.
“I’m sad, this is damaging for the church and the parish.
“I really hope we find a way forward to this problem.”
He said the Diocese had taken the allegations seriously and the matter was not being swept under the carpet.
Speaking to the Daily Dispatch yesterday the congregants, who asked not to be named for fear of victimisation, said they wanted Mpumlwana out of the church.
They claimed that:
lHe had introduced a new worship programme adopted from the Tim Omotoso Ministries;
l He had offended a family when he opened a coffin telling the family he had the power to wake the dead woman up. He failed;
lCongregants had to pay for services like weddings and pre-marital counselling.
“We have been patient with him but now enough is enough. He abuses us and swears at elderly people. Since last year he would shout “fire” and say he would take demons out of children, things we had never seen in this church. He gave us pamphlets of the “Man of God” and pasted Omotoso’s posters and a calendar in our church,” said a congregant.
The angry congregants vowed yesterday to continue with the protest until the rector had been removed.
But Hunter called for cool heads saying: “There are church procedures that need to be followed before any action can be taken and there are people’s rights that needed to be protected without taking sides.
“We are investigating the allegations,” he added.
Attempts to get hold of Mpumlwana were not successful as he did not answer phone calls. — mamelag@dispatch.co.za