Johannesburg - Deputy President Paul Mashatile has embraced Bishop Leonard Modise of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC) in Zuurbekom, west of Joburg.
This is after the church’s opposition leader, Michael Bhekumuzi Sandlana, failed to provide DNA test results showing that he is the son of the late bishop Glayton Modise.
Mashatile told a large crowd gathered at the church’s headquarters that it was his church and he was proud of its expansion and perseverance in trying times.
“My mother brought me here when I was still young. Silo (the name often used to describe the church headquarters) became my home. It is still my home,” Mashatile said.
The difficult circumstances refer to the controversial Sandlana, the leader of the IPHC’s Jerusalem faction. After the 2016 passing of Glayton Modise, Sandlana installed himself as church leader, a position that would make him the beneficiary of the more than R300 million estate.
No stranger to the courts, Sandlana was charged with fraudulently asserting that his wife, Benedicta Sandlana, was dead while she was alive. The case is still playing out at the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court.
In a 2019 affidavit, Sandlana said he was the late Bishop MG Modise’s eldest son, but the court poured cold water on his claim when it sought DNA evidence as proof.
The Department of Home Affairs confirmed to The Star that on February 13, 2017, a smart ID was illegally issued in Modise’s name, a year after his death.
Captain Augustinah Selepe confirmed that there was an ongoing investigation into Modise’s name and ID being used for fraudulent activities and that the docket was with the National Prosecuting Authority.
Throwing Sandlana further under the bus, Sylvia Busisiwe Gumede, a fingerprint officer attached to the Fingerprint Verifications Unit at the Department of Home Affairs, confirmed that Modise was last granted a green bar-coded ID and never possessed a smartcard ID.
The Star reported that after Modise’s ID smartcard was used as part of the documentation in the transfer of buses, Modise’s properties, cattle and church equipment were targeted. The first bus was transferred from Modise’s estate on June 28, 2021, while the transfer of the second bus was done on July 7, 2021.
Modise’s family was surprised to learn that the church’s buses were registered to a company named Ntate O Lerato, of which Sandlana is the sole director, and the deceased Modise’s ID smartcard was used to complete the transfer of ownership.
Izak de Villiers, executor of Modise’s estate, alleged that one of the buses with registration CP80GFGP belonged to Modise and was “illegally or unlawfully transferred to Ntate O Lerato (Pty) Ltd owned by a Michael Gilbert Sandlana”.
“I do not know how the signatures and identity documents were obtained to effect the transfer of the bus. And as an executor, I did not give anyone permission to sign transfer documents on behalf of the estate,” said De Villiers.
De Villiers and the Master of the High Court in Pretoria compelled Sandlana to produce the will, stating that he was the beneficiary of Modise’s estate. Sandlana, however, failed to do so.
The Modise family have called Sandlana an extortionist who was using their father’s death to “steal the church”.
The Department of Home Affairs has confirmed to The Star that there is no registered link between the church founder and Sandlana, who claims to be his son. According to the registrar of births, Modise’s only children are Julia Winifred Modise, Jenette Khumalo (nee Modise), Tshepiso Modise, Sebitse Bertha Mabusela (now Modise), and Frederick Leonard Modise, who runs the church’s headquarters and was anointed by his father to be the church’s third-generation leader.
For many weeks, Sandlana has chosen not to respond to The Star.
At the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court, where Sandlana was appearing for another charge, his lawyers told The Star’s reporter that they didn’t want Sandlana to speak to the paper.
“You are attacking our client in your papers. We don’t want you here,” they said.
The Star