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The Sex Cult Practices of Some NPC Prophets in South Africa

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Pentecostalism and Cultism in South Africa

Abstract

In this chapter, I discuss the sexual abuse of women as a cultic tendency in neo-Pentecostalism. The sexual abuse of women is at the centre of the abuse of religion by the contemporary neo-Pentecostal churches in a post-colonial South Africa that had triggered the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (also known as the CRL Commission) to call for the regulation of churches. While this is true, the question is to what extent is the sexual abuse of women a cultic tendency? This chapter will answer this question and highlight some consequences of the sexual abuse of women in a South African context.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Dayan Hava. “Sexual abuse and charismatic cults.” Aggression and Violent Behavior 41 (2018): 25–31.

  2. 2.

    “Spiritual husband” refers to the spirits that torment a woman especially in her dreams by sexually harassing or sleeping with her. One of the well-known practitioners of deliverance in Africa is Daniel K. Olukoya in his book Deliverance from Spirit Husband and Spirit Wife (Lagos: The Battle Cry Christian Ministries, 1999). He refers to the issue as one of the greatest spiritual problems which has pervaded societies of the world.

  3. 3.

    John Portmann, Sex and Heaven: Catholics in Bed and at Prayer (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), p.191.

  4. 4.

    Frank Bond Beumier, Sex Cults and Other Phenomena (Morrisville, NC: Lulu Press, 2005), p. 5

  5. 5.

    James Ballantyne Hannay, Sex Symbolism in Religion (Pomeroy: Health Research Books, 1991), p. 433.

  6. 6.

    Hava, “Sexual abuse and charismatic cults”, 29.

  7. 7.

    Phillip E. Goble, The Complete Book for Artists for Israel (Sasana Kijang: Afi Publications, 1992), p. 557.

  8. 8.

    Rupert Till, Pop Cult: Religion and Popular Music (Bloomsbury: A&C Black, 2010), p. 32.

  9. 9.

    Edmund Lingan, The Theatre of the Occult Revival: Alternative Spiritual Performance from 1875 to the Present (Berlin: Springer, 2014), p. 101.

  10. 10.

    Till, Pop Cult, 32.

  11. 11.

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  13. 13.

    Hava, “Sexual abuse and charismatic cults”, 26.

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    Jo Renee Formicola. “The Vatican, the American bishops, and the church-state ramifications of clerical sexual abuse.” Journal of Church and State 46, no. 3 (2004): 479–502; cf. Mary Gail Frawley-O’Dea. “Psychosocial anatomy of the Catholic sexual abuse scandal.” Studies in Gender and Sexuality 5, no. 2 (2004): 121–137; cf. Thomas P. Doyle. “The Australian royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse and the Roman Catholic Church.” Child Abuse & Neglect 74 (2017): 103–106.

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    Kieran Tapsell, Potiphar’s wife: The Vatican’s secret and child sexual abuse (Bristol: ISD LLC, 2014), p. 127.

  17. 17.

    Mookgo S. Kgatle. The Fourth Pentecostal Wave in South Africa: A Critical Engagement (Abingdon: Routledge, 2019), p. 121.

  18. 18.

    The MeToo movement (or #MeToo movement), with a large variety of local and international alternative names, is a movement against sexual harassment and sexual assault (“From Politics to Policy: Turning the Corner on Sexual Harassment—Center for American Progress.” Center for American Progress, 31 January 2018. Retrieved 14 April 2018 https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/news/2018/01/31/445669/politicspolicy-turning-corner-sexual-harassment/. The movement began to spread virally in October 2017 as a hashtag on social media in an attempt to demonstrate the widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment, especially in the workplace. Also see Nicole Smartt. “Sexual Harassment in the Workplace in a #MeToo World.” Forbes. Archived from the original on 16 January 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2018. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2017/12/20/sexual-harassment-in-the-workplace-in-a-metoo-world/#63cda2f65a42.

  19. 19.

    Chima Agazue. “‘Spiritual Cleansing’ through Private Parts: New Patterns of Sexual Exploitation of Female Church Members by their Revered ‘Prophets’ in Nigeria.” Proceedings of the International Conference on “Exploring Sexuality and Spirituality”, Wednesday, 6th July—Friday, 8th July 2016, Oxford, United Kingdom.

    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305434422_Spiritual_Cleansing_through_Private_Parts_New_Patterns_of_Sexual_Exploitation_of_Female_Church_Members_by_their_Revered_Prophets_in_Nigeria.

  20. 20.

    Paloma Blasco. “Gender and Pentecostalism among the Gitanos of Madrid: Combining approaches.” Romani Studies 22, no. 1 (2012): 1–18.

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  22. 22.

    Chima Agazue. “‘He Told Me that My Waist and Private Parts Have Been Ravaged by Demons’: Sexual Exploitation of Female Church Members by ‘Prophets’ in Nigeria.” A Journal on Sexual Exploitation and Violence 1, no. 1 (2016): 10.

  23. 23.

    Liv Haram & Bawa Yamba. Dealing with uncertainty in contemporary African lives (Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 2009), p. 39.

  24. 24.

    Kgatle, The Fourth Pentecostal Wave, 123.

  25. 25.

    Mookgo S. Kgatle & Allan H. Anderson. “Introduction: the abuse of the Spirit by some New Prophetic Churches in South African Pentecostalism”, Mookgo S. Kgatle & Allan H. Anderson (eds.), The use and abuse of the Spirit in Pentecostalism: A South African perspective. Routledge New Critical Thinking in Religion, Theology and Biblical Studies Series (Abingdon: Routledge, 2020): 1–23.

  26. 26.

    Hava, “Sexual abuse and charismatic cults”, 28.

  27. 27.

    Molly Manyonganise. “Zimbabweans and the Prophetic Frenzy”, Johannes Hunter & Joachim Kügler (eds.), The Bible and Violence in Africa (Bamberg: University of Bamberg, 2016): 269.

  28. 28.

    Muhammad M. Haj-Yahia. “Can people’s patriarchal ideology predict their beliefs about wife abuse? The case of Jordanian men.” Journal of Community Psychology 33, no. 5 (2005): 545–567.

  29. 29.

    Denise Ackermann. “Being women being human”, in Denise M. Ackermann, Jonathan A. Draper & Emma Mashinini (eds.), Women hold up half the sky: Women in the Church in South Africa (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications, 1991): 95.

  30. 30.

    Meda Chesney-Lind. “Patriarchy, crime, and justice: Feminist criminology in an era of backlash.” Feminist Criminology 1, no. 1 (2006): 6–26.

  31. 31.

    Abeda Sultana. “Patriarchy and Women’s Subordination: A Theoretical Analysis.” Arts Faculty Journal (2010): 1–18.

  32. 32.

    Oniccah Selokela. “African women overcoming patriarchy: a study of women in Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) Church in Rustenburg—South Africa.” (PhD diss., Pietermaritzburg: University of Kwazulu-Natal, 2005).

  33. 33.

    Daniël Nicolaas Andrew. “From vision to structure: Assessing the Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa in the light of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.” (PhD diss., Bellville: University of the Western Cape, 2005), 34.

  34. 34.

    Haram and Yamba, Dealing with uncertainty, 41.

  35. 35.

    Fundiswa A. Kobo. “Spirituality trapped in androcentric celebrity cults in South Africa post-1994.” HTS Theological Studies 75, no. 3 (2019): 4.

  36. 36.

    Fundiswa A. Kobo. “A womanist exposition of pseudo-spirituality and the cry of an oppressed African woman.” HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 74, no. 1 (2018): 1–8.

  37. 37.

    Fundiswa A. Kobo. “‘If I only touch His clothes, I will be healed’: A reading of Mark 5 v 21–34 by women who seek to name and reclaim their place in society and in the ministry of Jesus. A cry to God of life.” (National Council of Churches, Washington, 2013), p. 6. https://www.nationalcouncilofchurches.us/docs/GETI-FundiswaKobo.pdf.

  38. 38.

    Kobo, “A womanist exposition of pseudo-spirituality”, 3.

  39. 39.

    Hava, “Sexual abuse and charismatic cults”, 27.

  40. 40.

    Ibid., 30.

  41. 41.

    Ibid., 28.

  42. 42.

    Ibid., 28.

  43. 43.

    Ibid., 28.

  44. 44.

    Agazue, “Spiritual Cleansing”, 7.

  45. 45.

    Kobo, “Spirituality trapped in androcentric celebrity cults”, 4.

  46. 46.

    Kgatle, The Fourth Pentecostal Wave, 130.

  47. 47.

    Mookgo S. Kgatle. “The unusual practices within some Neo-Pentecostal churches in South Africa: Reflections and recommendations.” HTS Theological Studies 73, no. 3 (2017): 1–8; cf. Marius Nel, The prosperity gospel in Africa: An African Pentecostal hermeneutical consideration (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2020), p. 175.

  48. 48.

    Kgatle, The Fourth Pentecostal Wave, 130.

  49. 49.

    Everson Luhanga, “Let us pray and strip.” [accessed 22 May 2015] https://www.dailysun.co.za/News/National/Let-us-all-pray-and-strip-20150522.

  50. 50.

    Ibid.

  51. 51.

    Inemesit Udodiong. “10 times South African pastors have embarrassed Christianity” [25 November 2016] https://www.pulse.ng/communities/religion/pulse-list-10-times-south-african-pastors-have-embarrassed-christianity/qqtbrzw; cf. Marius Nel, An African Pentecostal hermeneutics: A distinctive contribution to hermeneutics (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2018), p. 21.

  52. 52.

    Kgatle, The Fourth Pentecostal Wave, 123.

  53. 53.

    Buti David Mulutsi. “Biblical understanding applied to contemporary African Christian methods of exorcism.” (PhD diss., North-West University, South-Africa, 2020).

  54. 54.

    Timeslive. “Pastor Mboro—when a prophet takes the biscuit.” [14 April 2016] https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2016-04-14-pastor-mboro%2D%2D-when-a-prophet-takes-the-biscuit/.

  55. 55.

    Federico G. Settler. “Race and materiality in African religious contexts.” Journal for the Study of Religion 31, no. 2 (2018): 36–56; cf. Khanyile Sphesihle Blessing. “The virtualization of the Church: New media representations of Neo-Pentecostal performance(s) in South Africa.” (PhD diss., Johannesburg: Wits University, 2016), 26.

  56. 56.

    Timeslive, “Pastor Mboro”.

  57. 57.

    Collium Banda. “The poor’s weapon against inequality?: A critique of the public role of neo-Pentecostalism in unequal South Africa”, Mookgo S. Kgatle & Allan H. Anderson (eds.), The use and abuse of the Spirit in Pentecostalism: South African perspective. Routledge New Critical Thinking in Religion, Theology and Biblical Studies Series (Abingdon: Routledge, 2020):175–202.

  58. 58.

    Ibid., 178.

  59. 59.

    Pulse. “Controversial pastor explains why he blesses underwear.” [20 April 2016] https://www.pulse.ng/communities/religion/prophet-mboro-controversial-pastor-explains-why-he-blesses-underwear-video/dwtsldb.

  60. 60.

    Banda, “The poor’s weapon against inequality?”, 185.

  61. 61.

    Talkgeria Media. “SA pastor, Mboro, asks congregants to remove their pants, rub their privates video.” [14 May 2018] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsG9mC4zvqg.

  62. 62.

    Banda, “The poor’s weapon against inequality?”, 185.

  63. 63.

    Talkgeria Media, “SA pastor”.

  64. 64.

    Ngwako Malatji. “Mboro resurrects manhood—couple have sex in front of TV crew after prayers.” [6 November 2017] https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/sundayworld/news/2017-11-05-mboro-resurrects-manhood-couple-have-sex-in-front-of-tv-crew-after-prayers/.

  65. 65.

    Ibid.

  66. 66.

    Ibid.

  67. 67.

    Ibid.

  68. 68.

    Ibid.

  69. 69.

    Kgatle, The Fourth Pentecostal Wave, 124.

  70. 70.

    Cheryl Zondi is a 22-year-old and the only state witness who came forward to describe the incidents that have happened while she was still a member of the Jesus Dominion International.

  71. 71.

    Kgatle, The Fourth Pentecostal Wave, 124.

  72. 72.

    Gopolang Chawane. “Court hears how Omotoso sexually assaulted 14-year old Zondi.” [10 October 2018] https://citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/2020717/court-hears-how-omotoso-sexually-assaulted-14-year-old-zondi/.

  73. 73.

    Hulisani Ramantswana. “Wathint’ Umfazi, Wathint’ Imbokodo, Uzakufa [You Strike a Woman, You Strike a Rock, You Will Die]: Dinah and Tamar as rape protestors.” HTS Theological Studies 75, no. 1 (2019): 1–8.

  74. 74.

    Chawane, “Court hears”.

  75. 75.

    Ibid.

  76. 76.

    Ibid.

  77. 77.

    Nosipiwo Manona. “Witness reveals Omotoso also had sex with his married co-accused women.” [accessed 26 February 2020] https://allafrica.com/stories/202002260160.html.

  78. 78.

    Ibid.

  79. 79.

    Ibid.

  80. 80.

    Ibid.

  81. 81.

    Ibid.

  82. 82.

    Ibid.

  83. 83.

    Ibid.

  84. 84.

    Ibid.

  85. 85.

    Ibid.

  86. 86.

    Ramantswana, “Wathint’ Umfazi, Wathint’ Imbokodo, Uzakufa”, 5.

  87. 87.

    Adeseke Adefolaju Eben. “The Satirical Social-Media Skits as Template for New Education: Understanding the Amateurish Auteurism in Nation Building.” Ethiopian e-Journal for Research and Innovation Foresight (Ee-JRIF) 11, no. 2 (2020).

  88. 88.

    Banda, “A survey on gender-based violence”, 7; cf. Kobo, “Spirituality trapped in androcentric celebrity cults in South Africa post-1994”, 1–7.

  89. 89.

    Bekithemba Dube, Milton Molebatsi Nkoane, and Dipane Hlalele. “The ambivalence of freedom of religion, and unearthing the unlearnt lessons of religious freedom from the Jonestown incident: A decoloniality approach.” Journal for the Study of Religion 30, no. 2 (2017): 330–349.

  90. 90.

    Ramantswana, “Wathint’ Umfazi, Wathint’ Imbokodo, Uzakufa”, 3.

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Kgatle, M.S. (2021). The Sex Cult Practices of Some NPC Prophets in South Africa. In: Pentecostalism and Cultism in South Africa. Christianity and Renewal - Interdisciplinary Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69724-2_5

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