A second church pastor told the Johannesburg High Court on Monday that he was accused of rape by Jacob Zuma’s rape accuser. The only reason that pastor Peete Mbambo could think of for this was that he was putting pressure on her to produce a matric certificate to further her studies.
He had helped her process her application to become a pastor and the following year had found out that she had left the theological college in Vereeniging.
This was when she had fainted in church in Durban and he had sent four church elders to inquire about her illness and why she was back in Durban. The elders returned and told him that she said he had raped her.
He immediately sent for her and when he asked her why she had said this, she refused to answer and said she was leaving his ”dirty church”.
He told her how she could go about setting up a disciplinary hearing into the matter and told her what her rights were within the church, but it came to nothing. He was also never questioned by police on the matter and could not say whether the matter was reported to police.
Mbambo said that in his opinion the only the reason she could have had for this was to cover up the fact that she was unable to produce a matric certificate. This is a requirement of admission to the theological college and he had been pressurising her to produce it, or he would have been accused of negligence.
He also told the court that she had accused a person called Nestor of rape. Nestor had been living at the home of a reverend Mayekiso. Mbambo was spending the night at Mayekiso’s home while all the churches in the region were having a night vigil at Easter.
Mbambo was woken up at about 3am or 4am by loud knocking. He went to investigate and went into Nestor’s room. There he saw the complainant and Nestor sharing a single bed, fast asleep. He discovered that the knocking was the ”church mothers” coming to fetch vegetables that had to be prepared for the next day.
Mbambo said he told Mayekiso that he had found the two sleeping in a room together and Mayekiso was angry about this and wanted to discipline Nestor. But by that evening, at about 6.15pm, Nestor had been accused of rape. The woman and her mother produced a white T-shirt stained with semen as evidence.
The complainant has denied accusing anybody at the theological college of rape. She also denied accusing Mbambo of rape.
Earlier, the court heard testimony from another pastor, Sithembile Masoka, who says he was expelled because of a false rape allegation by her.
A youth councillor, Duduzile Ngcobo, also told the court of another rape allegation that the woman made, which the complainant has also denied.
The court adjourned until Tuesday. — Sapa