Johannesburg - The Star yesterday intercepted a communication channel between controversial International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC) Jerusalem faction leader Michael Sandlana and male church elders said to be militarised by Sandlana in a bid to have a hostile takeover of the church’s headquarters in Zuurbekom, west of Johannesburg, also known as Silo.
At about 3pm yesterday, The Star received a voice note from a church elder in Sandlana’s camp purporting that an instruction had come “from above” that on May 19 the church’s men would descend on Zuurbekom and attempt to reclaim the ‘Holy Chair’.
In the voice note, the sender says: “He told us not to tell our wives where we are going. He said we were going to take back the church, and we should be ready for whatever happens.”
The voice note revealed fears of another bloodbath, as reports indicate that senior police personnel are also involved in the matter.
"We are worried about another incident such as the one that happened in 2020, as reports indicate that senior police officers are believed to have allegedly played a role in planning this invasion and promised Sandlana that if there is a cry for assistance, they will delay until he and his followers have successfully seized the Holy Land,“ the message said.
The first attack on the Zuurbekom branch took five lives.
In the early hours of Saturday, July 11, 2020, the SAPS responded to an incident of shooting when a group of men allegedly stormed into the churchyard armed with rifles, shotguns and pistols and started attacking security personnel as well as residents of the church compound.
The battle stems from the time of church leader MG Modise’s death, when Sandlana took over the church’s Jerusalem branch. According to custom, Modise’s son would take over the church and the estimated R200 million estate. However, Sandlana, who is not Modise’s son, contested the church’s rightful heir, Bishop Leonard Modise, for his father's estate.
Although Sandlana first claimed that he was MG Modise’s son out of wedlock, the truth soon came out.
This week, Sandlana appeared in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court on charges of corruption after his wife, Benedicta Sandlana, opened a case against him.
Sandlana is accused of seizing property and livestock belonging to the late MG Modise and stands accused of allegedly leading a command behind the invasion of MG Modise's Bela-Bela, Plot 54 and 55 Blaauwbosch farm, popularly known as Kanana.
The farm is part of the deceased’s estate, which is still before a court and in the executors care.
Items allegedly stolen from the property in question include a bulldozer, tractors, an Isuzu towing truck, an Isuzu truck bakery, a cattle trailer, an S5000 Benz, a versatile tractor, and more than 800 cattle and sheep.
The case was opened with case number 1276/2020.
For weeks, Sandlana has not responded to any of The Star’s questions.
The Star