Bishop Stephen Zondo from Rivers of Living Water Christian Church during the African National Congress (ANC) manifesto consultative workshop on June 25, 2018 in Centurion, South Africa. The ANCs draft elections manual shows a hint of how the party plans to next years national elections. Picture: Gallo Images/Sowetan Thulani Mbele
Controversial Rivers of Living Waters Ministries leader Bishop Bafana Stephen Zondo’s rape case has been postponed to the end of August 2021.
The 55-year-old pastor made a brief appearance at the Pretoria High Court to face nine charges of rape, contravening the Sexual Offences Act as well as defeating the ends of justice on Monday.
One of the victims was aged between 8 and 9 when Zondo allegedly raped her between April-June 1980.
Seven of the victims are adults, and they were allegedly raped in Evaton, a Formula 1 hotel in Johannesburg and the Rivers of Living Waters Ministries branch in Robertsham.
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It is alleged that Zondo attempted to bribe one of the victims with R25,000 to withdraw the case against him.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said: “The trial was set to start today [Monday] however, the defence requested the matter be postponed to 30 November as they were not ready to proceed.”
“The state advocate opposed the postponement stating that the defence had enough time to prepare for the matter and that the state was ready to proceed with the trial. The judge granted the defence a one-week postponement.”
Zondo’s supporters had planned a march from the city’s church branch in Jeff Masemola Street to the high court before his rape trial got underway. But there were no reports of disturbances in the city’s CBD.
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