Times Of Swaziland: JERICHO FACTIONS WILL MERGE ONE DAY - SENIOR MEMBER

JERICHO FACTIONS WILL MERGE ONE DAY - SENIOR MEMBER
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Sibusiso Zwane on 06/03/2023 08:38:00


RICHARD’S BAY, SOUTH AFRICA – One day, the Jericho Church, which was founded
by Melika Vilakati, will merge.
This was said by senior members of the Vilakati family and the church during the
cleansing ceremony for Jericho Church members under Archbishop Bhekibandla
Vilakati. The cleansing ceremony was held jointly with the archbishop’s 44th
birthday celebration in the Indian Ocean in Richard’s Bay, South Africa over
the weekend. During the all-night prayer on Saturday, three senior members of
the Vilakati family were asked to share with members the background of the
archbishop, who was celebrating his 44th birthday. First to speak was the mother
of the Archbishop, Busisiwe Vilakati (LaNtshalintshali), who related to the
congregants that when she was nine months pregnant, the founder of the church
went to the mountains to pray.
She shared that it was when her husband was in the mountains praying that she
experienced labour pains.
She said her husband also had a vision that their son (archbishop) would be born
with two teeth. Busisiwe went on to state that when her husband retuned from the
mountains, the first thing she asked her was whether their son was ok and she
answered to the affirmative.  She narrated that her husband then put his fingers
inside Bhekibandla’s mouth and felt the teeth in his jaws and he asked her why
she did not tell him about this. However, later on she said Melika told her that
he knew that their son would be born with teeth. After that, she said from time
to time, Melika would come and tell her visions he had about Bhekibandla. She
said at times, he saw him in a vision walking at sea shores and in another, he
saw something like copper coming from the sky and entered to him through his
nose and went straight to his mind. She said when telling her the visions,
Melika would ask her to pray harder because their son was special and had a huge
secret from the Lord.
She said when it was time for him to go to pre-school, his father refused and
said he should not go to school. “However, I took him to school by force
because I was concerned how he would survive if he does not go to school,”
Busisiwe said. She said when he was doing Grade III, his father told her to take
him out of school to her sister’s home at Ndlotane. Later on she said Melika
told her to take him to Gege, where he (Melika) also grew up so that he could go
through what he went through when growing up – looking after livestock in the
mountains. She said Melika said this after seeing Bhekibandla in a vision,
sitting on top of a rock in the mountains. After a while, she said Melika saw
Bhekibandla changing and becoming a rock.
Later on, she said they asked to take him back to school and he failed, yet he
was intelligent. She said Melika had to slaughter a white chicken and do a
little ceremony to appease the angels and after that, he passed until he
finished school. “Melika told us that our son was not supposed to go to school
because not all angels will visit him once he was educated,” the
archbishop’s mother said.
Thereafter, Busisiwe sent a stern warning to the archbishop and the church
members. She said following what she witnessed and told about him, he should
respect the church. In turn, she said the church should also respect him. “You
are the Joshua of the church.” Respect the church and it will lift you,” the
archbishop’s mother said to his son. After that, a senior member of the
Vilakati family, Samuel, who was close to the late Melika, said when Bhekibandla
was schooling at Ngcoseni Primary School, he was the chairman of the school
committee.
He said one day Melika ordered him to take his son out of school and when he
went to report same to the head teacher, he refused and said the boy was
intelligent. However, he advised him to listen to what his father was saying.
He also narrated how Melika would see visions about his son and reacted by doing
things which seemed to affect his life, like taking him out of school to look
after livestock. On the same note, a senior member of the church, Jerome
Dlamini, who was Melika’s driver, shared his story which was similar to that
of the two other speakers. He said Melika never beat Bhekibandla and would be
angry when he heard him crying. On another note, he said before Melika died, he
told him that he had a vision of him in Heaven. Dlamini said in the vision,
Melika told him that he saw the church being divided into two factions.
Vision
However, he said later on in the vision, Melika said he saw one leader being
anointed as the rightful one and the church merged and was united. “He said
this happened after the chosen leader had spent quality time praying in an
ocean,” Dlamini said. He added that according to Melika, in his vision, the
merging of the church happened when African countries were no longer colonised
by the European colonists. In that regard, the elders of the church said they
were optimistic that soon the church would merge. Their argument was that
everything that the founder of the church saw in a vision or said used to
happen. It is worth noting that after the death of the founder of the church,
there was a dispute on who should lead it between his sons Bhekibandla and
Khanyakwezwe. The dispute went on for a while until the authorities of the
country ruled that the duo should lead their factions. Currently, the Jericho
Church, which was founded by the late Melika, has two factions; one is under
Archbishop Bhekibandla and the other is led by Bishop Khanyakwezwe.