NPA to oppose Omotoso’s bid for Makaula’s recusal

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) will intervene to oppose an application by pastor Timothy Omotoso’s defence to have Judge Mandela Makaula recused.

This will be the second attempt by Advocate Peter Daubermann. Last year, Daubermann petitioned the Supreme Court of Appeal for Makaula’s recusal. The application was dismissed, which led to him taking the fight to the Constitutional Court in an attempt to overturn the decision.

The NPA’s Tshepo Ndwalaza said the authority intended to contest the appeal. According to EWN, Ndwalaza said the NPA was in the process of sending papers to the Constitutional Court.

Omotoso and his co-accused, Lusanda Sulani and Zukiswa Sitho, appeared in the Port Elizabeth High Court on Monday where their case was postponed to April 16.

The case was postponed pending the outcome from the Constitutional Court on Makaula’s recusal.

The Nigerian pastor faces 63 main charges and 34 alternative counts, which include human trafficking, rape, sexual assault, racketeering, and conspiracy in aiding another person to commit sexual assault.

His alleged accomplices, Sulani and Sitho, are accused of recruiting girls from all over the country for purposes of sexual exploitation.

The 58-year-old televangelist allegedly trafficked more than 30 girls and women who were from various branches of his Jesus Dominion International Church to a house in Umhlanga, KwaZulu-Natal, where he allegedly sexually exploited them.

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