Lynn Williams
The protracted rape, racketeering, and human trafficking trial of Nigerian Pastor Timothy Omotoso continued in the Gqeberha High Court on Monday.
He has been behind bars for almost six years, while his two co-accused Lusanda Sulani and Zukiswa Sitho are out on bail following their arrest on over 90 charges.
A former member of the Jesus Dominion International Church, Thozamile Njeva, 34, testified on Monday that he joined the church when he was 12 years old.
He said things started going wrong for him in 2015 when he was falsely accused of spreading rumours against Omotoso.
According to Njeva, Omotoso summoned him to his office and proceeded to place a curse on him.
"He said that I will drink battery water and become mad. He further said that I would grow a beard and that people will not recognise me."
The court heard that the curse had been removed when Njeva apologised at Omotoso's feet.
Later that day, Omotoso angrily approached Njeva for refusing to kneel.
He testified that it was customary for people to kneel when the accused entered or left the church, but he refused because he was still angry about being falsely accused.
"He showered me with curses, and told me that I would only have three days left to live. I believed him because everyone knew that Omotoso had a direct line to God."
"He told us that many times and we firmly believed that what he prophesied would come to pass.," Njeva said, crying as he told the court that he informed his family of his fate.
He was however thrown a lifeline when the elders in the church encouraged him to humble himself in front of Omotoso and beg for his forgiveness the next day.
In 2016, Njeva was allegedly assaulted by one of Omotoso's congregants for commenting on a friend's Facebook post.
The post was about pastors who engage in practices like telling congregants to eat snakes and drink petrol.
He said on this occasion, he was approached by nine elders from the church, known as "Men Aflame" and that one of them had slapped him across the face with an open hand.
An attempt to lay an assault charge at the Kwazakhele Police Station proved futile because the officer on duty knew the alleged perpetrator and encouraged Njeva not to, he testified.
He told the court that members of the police would often attend church in full uniform.
Regarding monies that flowed freely in church, Njeva alleged that Omotoso often walked around with a bag of cash containing R1 million.
He said congregants would often flock to collect empty envelopes from Omotoso with amounts of between R5 000 to R50 000 written on them.
"Once you grabbed an envelope you would have to fill it with the amount written on it. People believed the bigger the amount, the bigger the blessing you would receive," he said.
The trial continues.
