Statistics from the Pew Research Centre indicate that in sub-Saharan Africa, 796 million out of 822 m people claim the same Christian religious affiliation. Pentecostal Christians total 107 m. These figures suggest that religion shapes the worldview of many sub-Saharan inhabitants. Many are adherents of Ubuntu, which does not dichotomise lived experiences from the influence of the spiritual (the Supreme Being, spirits, and the ancestors). On the one hand, the World Health Organization has labelled South Africa as the rape capital of the world because it accounts for the highest figure of gender-based violence (GBV) globally. Intimate partner violence (IPV) and non-partner violence, characterised by rape and attempted rape, constitute a significant portion of sexual violence, which is the primary and highest category of GBV in South Africa. The second, third, and fourth categories are physical violence, socio-economic and financial violence, and psychological/emotional violence. Various South African courts have sentenced several pastors from the Neo-prophetic Movement (NPM) for non-partner violence.
Objectives
The aim of this study is to reflect on non-partner violence within the NPM in South Africa and to respond to this scourge by applying Ubuntu Pentecostalism as a framework.
Method
This article thus poses the question: How might South African Pentecostals address the scourge of non-partner violence within the NPM? It, thus, uses Ubuntu Pentecostalism.
Results
The article shows that is that is possible to mobilise members of NPM and the surrounding community to counteract the scourge of non-partner violence among NPM in South Africa.
Conclusion
The article concludes by providing a four-step strategy to curb th scourge of non-partner violence in the NPM in South Africa.
Contribution
This strategy contributes to curbing the scourge of non-partner violence within the NPM in South Africa.
‘man of God’Neo-prophetic Movementgender-based violencenon-partner violenceUbuntu PentecostalismFunding information This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.Introduction
Gender-based violence (GBV) is a form of violence perpetrated by men against women (Hossain & McAlpine 2017). Global statistics show that women are often victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) (United Nations Department of Public Information 2008). The IPV primarily occurs within intimate partner relationships (World Health Organization 2005) and is a widespread issue, with nearly 18% of women aged 18–45 having experienced GBV (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 2018). Gender-based violence can manifest in various forms, including physical, sexual, emotional, financial, or structural, and can be perpetrated by intimate partners, acquaintances, strangers, and institutions (World Health Organization 2005). According to the UN (1993):
Gender-based violence is any act of gender-based violence is that which results in or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivations of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life. (p. 2)
The United Nations (2019) also mentions sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and defines it as:
any harmful act that is perpetrated against a person’s will and that is based on socially ascribed (i.e. gender) differences between males and females. It includes acts that inflict physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering, threats of such acts, coercion, and other deprivations of liberty. These acts can occur in public or in private. (UNHRC [n.d]: p. 1)
This definition shows that men also experience GBV; hence, the World Health Organization provides an inclusive definition. The World Health Organization (2009) defines GBV as:
Violence that is directed against a person on the basis of their sex or gender, and it includes acts that inflict emotional, physical, mental or sexual harm or suffering, or threats of such acts, coercion and other deprivations of liberty. (p. 3)
The focus of this article is on GBV against young girls and women because research shows that 18% of women in sub-Saharan Africa have experienced GBV (Thobejane 2019:54). Various scholars indicate that GBV in South Africa is the highest in the world (Durbach 1999; Gender Links & Medical Research Council 2011; Jewkes et al. 2010; Mpani 2015). A study mentions that women have experienced ‘emotional, economic, physical or sexual abuse at least once in their lifetime both within and outside their intimate relationships’ (Machisa et al. 2017:11). Hence, Du Toit (2005:260) posits that rape occurs on a ‘large and seemingly uncontrollable scale’ in South Africa with culture and customs and patriarchy being the main cause (Madumise 2018; Phiri 1997:11). According to Machisa et al. (2017):
A large proportion of men in Gauteng (78%); Limpopo (48%); Western Cape (35%); and Kwa-Zulu Natal (41%) all admitted to having committed some form of violence against women in their lifetime. (p. 11)
Naidoo and Nadvi (2013:2–3) and Meyiwa et al. (2017:8607) argue that GBV is an offshoot of the apartheid legacy, which resulted in children being raised in broken rural single-headed households because of the migrant labour system that required men to work in cities. This phenomenon created a generation of children raised in the absence of their fathers (Padi et al. 2014:44–49). Olalere (2022:77–78, 79–81) presents a different approach and mentions four categories of GBV in South Africa and the causes of GBV, namely, personality/behaviour, education, economy/financial status, system and society, socio-cultural norms, beliefs, and practices.
Finally, it is widely accepted that GBV violates women’s rights. Gender-based violence prevents women from flourishing and constitutes a violation of basic human rights. The Beijing Declaration (1995) explains that gender-based violence (GBV) is a major obstacle to the achievement of equality, development and peace as violence impairs women’s ability to enjoy basic human rights and freedoms as enshrined in various policies and conventions.
The objective of the article is to reflect on non-partner violence within the Neo-prophetic Movement (NPM) in South Africa and to respond to the scourge of non-partner violence by applying Ubuntu Pentecostalism as a framework. This article utilises Ubuntu Pentecostalism as a framework to propose a strategy to curb GBV among the NPM in South Africa. It consists of four sections. Firstly, it presents the relationship between GBV, religion, and South Africa. Secondly, it explains the framework used. Thirdly, it discusses GBV within the NPM in South Africa. Finally, it elaborates on the suggested four-step strategy to curb GBV among the NPM in South Africa.
Gender-based violence, religion and patriarchy in South Africa
Mbiti (1969:74) posits that African religion forms a part of the African worldview that emphasises the influence of the metaphysical on the physical. Statistics show that among the 822 million people in sub-Saharan Africa, 796 m people share the same religious belief (Pew Research Centre 2015), accounting for about 80% of the total population (Togarasei 2013:187). As mentioned earlier in the text, Olalere (2022:77–78, 79–80) mentions that South African socio-cultural norms, beliefs, and practices lead to GBV. This observation points to Phiri’s (1997:11) argument that ‘[p]atriarchy has defined women as inferior to men, thereby perpetuating the oppression of women by religion and culture’, and that patriarchy reinforces patriarchal tendencies identified in the Bible (Phiri 2002:20).
Literature shows that IPV is high on the continent (World Health Organization 2013), whereas the figure in South Africa is the highest globally (Jewkes et al. 2001; Mpani & Nsibande 2015). Madumise (2018) adds that 50% of women are sexually violated annually in South Africa.
Non-partner violence is the most common form of GBV in the NPM. It is a given that women are always the majority in all church denominations in South Africa, and the NPM is not exempt. However, male leaders in the NPM occupy most of the church leadership positions and are accorded the spiritual status and privilege of being the ‘man of God’ because they perform miracles, prophesy, or heal the sick (Kgatle 2020:35–36). The NPM also allows women to occupy leadership positions (Kgatle 2020, 123). The followers of the ‘man of God’ believe that he is unique and that no one is like him (Kgatle 2020:34). Hence, some of the ‘man of God’ use this privilege to manipulate women and girls, lure them, and later rape them (Kgatle 2020:124).
As such, several pastors from the NPM have been charged and sentenced for attempted rape of church members in the past 12–15 years (Kgatle 2020:123–125), confirming the view that socio-cultural contexts shape one’s biblical interpretation (Mosala 1989), and religion influences behaviour (Silverman 2005). These developments reflect the fact that a religious view and a form of Pentecostalism Kgatle (2020:35) labelled the NPM are causes of GBV. Some ‘man of God’ use fear to perpetuate GBV against women and girls. Kgatle (2020) explains that:
Neo-prophetic Movement meetings in Africa revolves around taking advantage of people’s fear … imparts their followers with fear and anxiety … when a prophet comes and says there is someone bewitching a certain family or individual it makes them fearful … It is from this fear and anxiety that many recipients of prophecy feel obliged to obey the prophecy … They do so even when the prophet is doing the unthinkable or outrageous acts. (pp. 37–38)
Such a prophetic tendency characterises malevolent ‘God Talk’. Hence, the article employs another religious view, Ubuntu Pentecostalism, to address the use of malevolent ‘God Talk’ perpetuating non-partner violence in the NPM.
Article framework
Mzondi (2019) conceptualised the term ‘Ubuntu Pentecostalism’ to refer to a form of Pentecostalism that embraces Ubuntu in South Africa. This occurred after the conversion of Africans and their adoption of the teachings of Pentecostalism introduced by John Lake and his colleague, Thomas Hezmalhalch, in 1908. Discussions emphasise that Ubuntu can be identified by a set of values (Bhengu 1996; Broodryk 2002; Myandu 1998; Shutte 2001; Tutu 1999). These values have been summarised as caring, sharing, community, seriti or isithunzi, faith, and respect for the divine (Mzondi 2009, 2015). ‘Ubuntu Pentecostalism’ embraces all these values and rejects the practice of ancestor veneration (Mzondi 2019:70). It is a form of Pentecostalism embraced by Elias Letwaba, Job Ciliza, Nicholas Bhengu, Phil Molefe, and Richard Ngidi (Mzondi 2019:80–83, 89–91), which contrasts with the Pentecostalism of Daniel Nkonyane, Elias Mahlangu, Engenus Lekganyane, Nehemiah Shembe, and Christinah Nku (Mzondi 2019:47–61). The former is also distinct from Pentecostalism that promotes the use of tangible elements identifiable in the ministry of TB Joshua (Mzondi 2019:125–126). His followers have embraced his prophetic ministry and utilise various tangible elements in healing and deliverance (Mzondi 2019:125, 128). They belong to a form of Pentecostalism that Kgatle (2020:34) labels the NPM. Furthermore, some of the ‘men of God’ who have been criminally charged with rape and subsequently sentenced to serve various jail terms have direct and indirect connections with the prophetic, healing, and deliverance ministry that characterises the NPM and use ‘God Talk’ to lure young girls and women. Kgatle (2020:123–125) and Banda (2021:1) confirm that some of these ‘men of God’ appeared before the courts of law and were found guilty of rape.
Consequently, the article then employs the former ‘Ubuntu Pentecostalism’ to reflect on the prevalence of GBV in the NPM with the aim of proposing practical ways to curb this scourge in the NPM and to support young girls and women church members who have experienced GBV.
Gender-based violence in the Neo-prophetic movement
Gender-based violence is now known to be common in Christian communities and non-partner violence (NPV) has been widely reported in the NPM as seen in Table 1. Le Roux and Bowers-Du Toit (2017:29) raise a concern that few religious communities address GBV. The author formulated table 1 below to show a list of ‘Men of God’ from Limpopo province, Eastern Cape province, Western Cape province, KwaZulu-Natal province, and Gauteng province who were charged and sentenced in different South African courts for raping young girls and women. The table also shows that the courts handed these sentences between 2021 and 2022. It further also shows that the accused pastors use God Talk (column three) to lure these girls and women before raping them.
‘Man of God’ various South African courts sentenced for raping girls and women.
Name of pastor
Province
God Talk
Charge and Sentence
Age of girls and women at time of rape
James Thubakgale(Reviewonline 2020)
Limpopo
Exorcise spirit or prophecy
Rape and other crimesLife sentence
14 and 16
Setabo Elias Molepo(Reviewonline 2021)
Limpopo
Buy food and clothes
RapeFive life terms
11 and 13
Hlomelo Dywili(Mehlwana 2022)
Eastern Cape
Promised women employment at his church
Rape and human traffickingSix life terms
23 and 25
Sbusiso Nyathikazi(Signh 2021)
KwaZulu-Natal
Use position as spiritual guardian
Rape20 years jail sentence
19
Bafomba Willy Emeka(Germiston city news 2021)
Gauteng
Asked to pray and bless women by sleeping with them to solve their problems
Rape and being illegal in the country.37 years jail sentence
N/A
N/A, not applicable.
The article suggests that pastors who rape girls may exploit the belief that one must have sex with girls and women. They employ ‘God Talk’ to entice young girls and women, even persuading their guardians to entrust them to their care. The victims in the court cases ranged in age from 11 to 25 years. But why target young girls? During the peak of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) infections in South Africa, indigenous healers propagated the notion that having sex with a virgin could cure these diseases (Leclerc-Madlala, Simbayi & Cloete 2009:21). Although unproven, it seems that the rape incidents involving women and girls resonate with the myth that virgin sex can cure HIV and AIDS. Kgatle (2021) associates this practice with sex cultism. Information from the court cases reveals that these ‘men of God’ employed various tactics to lure and groom girls and women before committing sexual assault. The testimonies of the victims in these rape cases align with the early HIV and AIDS period’s myth that one must engage in sexual activity with girls and women.
A proposed action to address gender-based violence in the Neo-prophetic Movement
This article proposes a five-pronged approach to the scourge of GBV in NPM, using ‘Ubuntu Pentecostalism’. Figure 1 shows the clockwise steps of the approach, beginning with community ending with respect.
The Ubuntu Pentecostalism approach.
The associated tasks of each step of the approach are described as follows:
Community is associated with building a responsive community.
Belief in the divine is associated with the Bible as the source of shaping the community.
seriti or isithunzi is associated with promoting seriti or isithunzi (moral force) of women and girls.
Care is associated with caring for and supporting each other.
Respect is associated with respecting women and girls and their bodies.
The above-mentioned five steps form the basis for designing a four-step strategy to curb the scourge of non-partner violence within the NPM in South Africa. The steps are: Building a responsive community, using the Bible as a source for shaping the community, promoting seriti or isithunzi (moral force) of girls and women, and caring for and supporting each other.
Building a responsive community
The most important step is to build a community consisting of community members, church members, and pastors who will stand and speak out against GBV because GBV is a national scourge that needs multiple collaboration. In the spirit of umuntu ngumuntu ngabanu (isNguni) motho ke motho ka batho (Sesotho/Setswana) (I am because of others), pastors, church members, and the community members should begin to unite and support each other to fight against GBV in their churches and the society. This spirit will reflect interdependence and interrelatedness in the envisaged community as the community works on what Oduyoye (1996:112) refers as joining ‘the analysis, deconstruction [and subsequent reconstruction], construction, and advocacy that will bring healing and transformation to our communities’.
It is suggested that the envisaged community should focus on two objectives. The first objective should be to identify aspects that contribute to GBV in these churches. These common aspects identified from court cases are: (1) one-on-one healing or prophetic sessions with a pastor in secluded areas or away from places where church members or family members or community members frequent, (2) the pastor sending special gifts to young girls and women, (3) the pastor offering to buy clothes and food for young girls and young women, and (4) the pastor offering job opportunities to young girls and women.
A secondary goal of the envisioned community should be to create an awareness campaign to disseminate the above aspects to church members and other pastors via social media, print, and electronic media. This campaign should also advocate that church members and pastors should: (1) check if what the pastor teaches and says is Bible-based, that is check what the pastor teaches and says before accepting it, (2) always double check social media communication from the pastor with other church members, and finally (3) the church members should be wary of a pastor who is not accountable to others.
The Bible as a source for shaping the community
Flowing from the awareness campaign, the envisaged community should intentionally and critically place the Bible (eds. Vorster & Van der Walt 2017) as a source to teach and empower women and girls to stand up for themselves and not be exploited. It should also empower men to not exploit women. The community should intentionally concern itself with practical issues church members and society face. This approach suits Ubuntu Pentecostalism’s practice of embracing other values and rejecting ancestor veneration in shaping a community. Thus, the envisaged community must firstly begin by teaching and promoting the fact that God created women and men equal and, in his image, and denouncing all customs, practices, and traditions in the African worldview and in the Bible that inhibit women and treat them inferior to men.
Secondly, the community must point its members to Jesus as the role model. Jesus pointed his audience to the Scriptures, which he said spoke about him. The community should also teach men and boys new ways of socialising with girls and women, using the Bible to promote Jesus as a model of gender inclusivity. Jesus promotes inclusivity when he called his followers, his mother, brothers, and sisters (Mk 3:32–35). The community should be aware that spiritual gifts and the five-fold ministry do not make one special and above others, instead they flow out of the Holy Spirit instead of the performing of certain ritualistic practices. They are meant to serve and edify each other and make believers grow their faith.
Promoting <italic>seriti</italic> or <italic>isithunzi</italic> (moral force) of girls and women
Teaching and promoting that all human beings are created in the image of God enhance the notion of imago Dei. This notion is equivalent to enhancing one’s seriti or isithunzi in the African community, where one’s behaviour and actions point others to your parents and your upbringing that expresses their seriti or isithunzi. Denouncing all practices that inhibit young girls and women also contributes to enhancing their seriti or isithunzi. Biblically, women and men are God’s creation (the imago Dei) (Gn 1:27; cf. Van Arkel 2000:148) and have the same seriti or isithunzi. To be created in God’s image does not refer to the physical aspect of human beings but refers to the moral, spiritual, and rational aspects of a human being (Magezi & Magezi 2018:5). Louw (2012:159) adds that being created in God’s image means demonstrating grace, compassion, fair judgement, mercy, and loving each other.
Jesus, our role model, emphasised that the female and male are created in God’s image in his response to the religious leader when he pointed them to the story of creation mentioned in Genesis 1:26 and 2:15–24. They came to test him by questioning him about the legal and religious basis for practising divorce (Mk 10:1–9). Here are the details of the encounter:
Some Pharisees came to test Jesus, asking him if it is lawful to divorce a wife.
They mentioned that Moses permitted the husband to write a certificate of divorce and sent her away.
Jesus responded that Moses permitted this because of the hardness of husbands’ hearts.
He continued to emphasise that God created male and female in the beginning.
He further explained that a man will leave his parents and cleave to his wife, the two shall be one.
Therefore, what God joined together should not be separated.
Jesus’ response emphasised that Moses granted husbands to divorce wives because of their hardened hearts. His answer challenged the Jewish and Grecian worldviews that held that women were of low status in society (De Silva 2000:18,180). This answer echoes that Jesus differentiated between law given to address the human condition after creation and God’s law at creation point. The latter caused and lowered the social status of women and wives in the Jewish and Grecian cultures. Wives were under the control of the husband; hence, only they could issue a divorce certificate. This practice is based on the instruction in Deuteronomy 24:1–14 regulating the dissolution of marriage by allowing men to unilaterally dissolve a marriage. It disregarded the views and emotions of the wife. Jesus’s response that wives are created in God’s image elevates their status in the community and the marriage and underscores the emotions and views in a marriage relationship. His response elevated women and empowered them through his teaching that what God has joined together should not be separated.
Similarly, the envisioned community should also be built on the African teaching that the Supreme Being created all human beings. The isiZulu creation story that teaches that humans came from the reed, is a perfect example to advocate the seriti or isithunzi of women. The view assists in rejecting the perception of placing children and wives in the same social status. Rejecting this perception concurs with Sumbal and Chattu’s (2020:32) argument for exposing men and boys to teachings and messages that challenge gender stereotypes and unequal gender roles. Furthermore, the community should reject perceptions that disregard the emotions and views of young girls and mainly grooming them to be good wives and to satisfy their husbands sexually.
Caring for and supporting each other
The next step after a critical application of the Bible to teach that women and men are imago Dei is for the proposed community to establish ways and means to provide care and protect women and young girls from being victims of GBV. Care entails establishing relations between women and men, reflecting the natural aspect of being made in the image of God (Gn 1:27). Additionally, it includes the responsibility to care for God’s creation (Gn 1:26) (Magezi & Magezi 2018:6). Following Louw (2012:159), it is important for the community to also care and support women and young girls who have experienced GBV in these churches. Care and support for each other is identifiable in Paul’s letters to the churches at Rome and Corinth. He mentions that believers are different parts of one body (Rm 12; 1 Cor 12; cf Kerlin 2014:3). This means that members of the community should also be encouraged to care for each other and to be enlisted for training in GBV counselling, perhaps by community leaders or organisations and begin to network with civil organisations such as People Against Women Abuse (POWA) and Gender Links to realise a caring community that is based on community members. McLemore (2012:275) calls this as ‘the model of care for the community and its members by the community and its members’. This collaboration will allow them to help young girls and women who have survived GBV.
Regarding pastors, it is essential to emphasise that they are expected to provide pastoral care to church members guided by Christ’s care for people (Masango 2010:4–5). However, providing pastoral care dictates that the pastor should not exploit the poor and vulnerable and marginalised (Masango 2010:3); it concerns itself about the ‘hurting and in need of care and concern’ (McLemore 2012:270). Pastoral care is ‘[t]he essence of the church and its ministry to direct a concern toward the personal dimensions of the lives of the members’ (Lapsley 1983:168). Pastors should also be encouraged to be responsible by reporting any visits of members to the community days or hours before they occur.
Church members of the community should be encouraged to be held responsible by reporting any visit to a pastor days before or hours before so that the pastor may also be held accountable for his actions during the arranged visit. A WhatsApp group may be created or a register be designed to achieve this objective. The latter should be completed and signed by the pastor and the member providing the date and time frame of the session.
Respecting women and girls and their bodies
The community should prioritise treating women and girls with respect and respecting their bodies. Owino (2010:87–88) calls this prioritising a mature masculinities perception. As pastors provide care, they should be willing to be held accountable by desisting from touching women bodies in the absence of others.
The pastor should not meet any girls and women behind closed doors with no other women around. Where there is a need to touch the woman’s body, the pastor may ask other women to do so. Men and boys should also be taught and trained to respect and to protect girls and women.
Conclusion
This article has demonstrated that GBV has two categories, namely, IPV and NPV. Both are recognised as global and continental scourges, with South Africa often referred to as the global capital of rape. It focused on NPV as it was rife among the NPM in South Africa with the intention to propose a strategy to curb it among Pentecostal Churches. It was discussed that South African courts have sentenced numerous NPM pastors to long and life sentences after being found guilty of raping young girls and women. These developments created a quest to address the scourge among NPM by developing a five-step strategy based on community, belief in the divine, seriti or isithunzi (moral force), care, and respect identified in Ubuntu Pentecostalism. The intention is to identify erroneous perceptions of the religious leaders and among pastors in the NPM. The strategy provides a guide that promotes building a responsive community, using the Bible to shape the community, promoting the concept that women are created in the image of God and possess the same seriti or isithunzi (moral force) as men, promoting care for each other, and respecting the bodies of women. Enlisting the church members and the community members to be a part of these steps will hold pastors accountable for their actions and ensure that pastors adhere to suggested cautionary measures when ministering to young girls, young women, and older women.
AcknowledgementsCompeting interests
The author declare that they have no financial or personal relationship(s) that may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.
Author’s contributions
A.M.M.M. is the sole author of this research article.
Ethical considerations
This article followed all ethical standards for research without direct contact with human or animal subjects.
Data availability
Details in Table 1 were obtained from online newspaper articles.
Disclaimer
The views and opinion expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position or position of any affiliated agency of the author.
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How to cite this article: Mzondi, A.M.M., 2024, ‘Nyaa, “motlhanka wa Jehofa”! (Stop it, “man of God”!): An Ubuntu Pentecostal response to gender-based violence within the Neo-prophetic Movement in South Africa’, African Journal of Pentecostal Studies 1(1), a11. https://doi.org/10.4102/ajops.v1i1.11