THE EASTER weekend is a time for religious people around the world to come together in peace and harmony.
But for the people of this church, Good Friday turned bad… it became a day of chaos and protest.
THE CONGREGATION WAS QUITE CLEAR: THEIR PASTOR HAD TO GO!
Angry church members waved placards in the church in Soweto, calling for the removal of their pastor and accusing him of wrecking a family he had counselled.
Ezekiel Letlape (45) from Dobsonville, Soweto claimed that his wife was cheating on him with the pastor.
He even showed the SunTeam the loving SMSes sent by his wife to the pastor.
He said he tried to speak to the pastor but didn’t get straight answers.
“Then I took the matter to senior church members and asked for help.”
He said the pastor had helped him and his wife in the past.
“Whenever there was a misunderstanding between me and my wife he would come and speak to us.”
He said he looked on the pastor as his father.
“I didn’t know that he was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He has torn my family apart,” he said.
When Journalists spoke to Ezekiel’s wife Sentebaleng Letlape (42) at their house, she admitted to sending loving SMSes to the pastor.
But she said she was not sleeping with the pastor.
“I was just flirting with him because I felt lonely and neglected by my husband. The pastor is very nice to everyone,” she said.
Sentebaleng said she and her husband have not slept in the same bed for two years.
She claimed her husband was a serial cheater.
“He would sleep out and only come back the next morning,” she said.
“He didn’t want to sleep with me until one day I cheated on him openly to give him a taste of his own medicine.”
Ezekiel confirmed that he had cheated on his wife in the past and it was the same pastor who counselled them about it.
When reporters went to his office, the pastor asked not to be photographed and told the church secretary to speak to the paper.
She said the pastor could not comment on the allegation against him because the matter was with the presbytery.
Church member Tebogo Sebokwane (62) vowed there will be no service until the pastor steps down.
“We have evidence of the allegations and it is sad that he is implicated in such damning claims,” he said.
Johannes Tlhapi (56) said they had prepared for Easter prayers but they were disrupted because of a man who wouldn’t simply resign instead of waiting for an investigation.
