MISSING CONGREGANTS FOUND ON MANANGA MOUNTAIN

MHLANGATANE –After being reported missing for nearly four days, members of the EL Tabernacle Holy Ghost Ministry Church have been located.

The missing congregants were not traced to Madagascar, which was the promised ‘peaceful land’ by their pastors, but were found on a mountain top. About 52 worshippers were located on Mananga Mountain situated near Shewula and Mafucula in the Lubombo Region. This is about 74 kilometres away from the furthest homestead, where some of the congregants are believed to be from. It took police officers and residents about an hour to ascend from the bottom of the mountain to the top where the church members had been camping. Several parents of the pupils who formed part of the search party from Mhlangatane condemned the action by the church and alleged that they were not informed that their children would be going away.

Permission

They accused the church leaders of not seeking permission from them as parents before leaving with their minors. Last Friday, this publication reported that church members had been reported missing alongside their Pastor, Jeremiah Kunene. Kunene is also the Head teacher of Ntsinini High School. On Friday and Saturday, residents of Mhlangatane gathered under a tree outside the school premises to discuss a way forward in locating their missing relatives. It is alleged that the pastor and another senior member of the church were not among the worshippers when the police arrived on Saturday and yesterday on the mountain top where the residents were found. The duo was reported to be deep into the mountain, praying.

The members were located by residents of Mhlangatane and police officers from Lomahasha, Buhleni and Pigg’s Peak. Assistant Superintendent Dino Nzalo was among the police officers who also took the journey to the mountain top, where the church members were located. At the time the police arrived, the mountain top is said to have been cold and wet as it was raining. This, however, did not discourage some of the members from insisting that they needed to remain on the mountain for prayer. Concerns were raised by some of the members of the search party that the environment was not safe for the minors.

According to some of the residents who were part of the search team, they also found babies among the worshippers at the mountain. “Some were even breastfeeding,” claimed a resident.
The church members’ location came to be known when one of the cellphones of those who had travelled with the pastor had not been switched off and it rang while the congregants were on the mountain. Further, some of the residents around Mafucula also gave away information that they had seen some people heading towards the mountain.  It was with this information at their disposal, that the residents and the police searched until they were able to locate the worshippers.  Mthunzi Luhlanga, who is the former chairperson of Ntsinini High School, confirmed that so far, 13 people, including children, had returned. He said of these, the eldest person was 65 years old.  Some of the worshippers, however, remained at the mountain, saying they wanted to continue with their prayer.

Luhlanga, who is also the Chairperson of the Inner Council around Ndvwangeni area in Mhlangatane, said the children who returned were handed over to their parents. None of them seemed to have been harmed. He said the parents were yet to decide on a way forward regarding their children. He said there would be a meeting today, to discuss the way forward. Some of the residents wanted the church to be banned from operating in the community, as they claimed that this was a cult and should be stopped before it spread to other communities. Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati confirmed the incident. She confirmed that the church members were located. She was also asked if any person had been charged regarding the disappearance of the congregants and she said no one had been arrested so far. She said the matter was still under investigation.

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