‘All in the name of God’: Murder and abuse allegations rock KZN rehab centre [VIDEO]

Tetelestai Recovery Centre (TRC) in Winklespruit, KwaZulu-Natal, is at the centre of controversy following the alleged murder of inpatient Luke Edwards, 32.

Former residents have come forward on social media and to The Citizen with allegations of brutality, including violence, psychological torture, sexual exploitation and physical abuse.

All were purportedly meted out in the name of God, under the eye of proprietor Donovan de Klerk.

A death shrouded in abuse and isolation

In April, Edwards’ body was found dumped at an old-age home up the road from Tetelestai.

While the state autopsy results remain outstanding, The Citizen has seen pictures which appear to show he had been severely beaten.

WATCH: Is Tetelestai Recovery Centre rehab hell in God’s name?

According to testimony in court, Edwards tried to escape from the facility on 9 April after being placed in isolation and denied adequate food.

It was then alleged that four inpatients, called monitors and tasked with overseeing fellow residents, beat him to eventual death.

The four alleged killers Lloyd Ramsbottom, 29, Banele Mseleku, 24, Jean Pierre Van Niekerk, 28, and Njabulo Brandon Dlamini, 28, pleaded not guilty and were granted bail on Wednesday after first being denied bail last week.

Fear, control and ‘therapy’ by punishment

The centre is run by De Klerk, a recovering addict, his wife Laticia, and a friend.

Macy, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, sought help at Tetelestai two years ago. She said she left traumatised and stripped of dignity.

ALSO READ: Dentist on murder rap after Austrian dies in ‘rehab’

From the day of intake, she said, all personal freedoms were confiscated.

People are then placed in isolation for up to a few weeks, medication taken away, and they are detoxed under the watchful eye of monitors, or recovering addicts, she said.

“People are left in there to scream in a locked room for days on end,” Macy said.

Claims of humiliation and forced labour

Macy said her days at TRC were filled with enduring and witnessing degrading punishments disguised as therapy.

She was frequently forced to scrub floors and tiles for hours with a toothbrush, repeatedly ordered to clean the same spot.

Speaking up in protest meant harsher punishment.

“It wasn’t therapy. It was abuse. They humiliate you to control you,” she said. “All in the name of God.”

Private investigator Brad Nathanson, hired by the Edwards family to probe the alleged murder of their son, said his investigation unearthed numerous, consistent reports of abuse, including violent punishments and coercion.

The investigator’s Facebook page became an outlet for many former inpatients to share their experiences.

Nathanson said TRC lacked medical professionals to appropriately manage addicts, violated safety standards, and used patients for unpaid, harsh punishment-labour under constant surveillance.

De Klerk denies allegations

De Klerk denied all allegations against TRC through his attorney, Wesley Rogers. Below is a condensed version of his side of the story. Click here to read his full response.

“Fights have occurred among patients, but staff are not involved. Violence leads to warnings or expulsion,” Rogers said.

He said De Klerk had taken out a protection order against Nathanson, adding the private investigator’s probe into TRC was compromising the police investigation.

Rogers also alleged witnesses’ statements about the conditions at TRC were curated by Nathanson through “incentives”. Nathanson denied this.

ALSO READ: Tetelestai Recovery Centre founder denies abuse claims

WARNING: The below image may be harmful to sensitive readers

Alleged danger, violence and survival inside TRC

Jack, a pseudonym, was a former patient who spoke to The Citizen. He went to Tetelestai believing it would help him conquer his drinking problem.

ALSO READ: One in four alcohol addicted teens first exposed by family members

He sold his possessions to pay for treatment, only to discover what he described as a prison camp.

He arrived inebriated and was made to sign paperwork while drunk, only to be told later that he was legally bound to the centre and could not leave at will.

Macy said people who attempted to escape were collected by teams of recovering addicts. She said returnees came back bleeding and with bruises at times.

Jack described how a disabled resident with a fused leg was restrained and forcibly bent by monitors as punishment, resulting in severe injuries.

The man later jumped from a second-storey window and got away.

Macy said she witnessed a female resident jump from a second-floor window during an episode of what looked like severe distress.

“She lay there in agony with a shattered leg,” Macy said. “They left her there for hours, claiming it was ‘God’s punishment’. No one helped her. It was horrifying.”

‘Forced’ religious conversion

Medics were eventually called, she said. Christian teaching, former patients said, permeated the TRC.

De Klerk presented himself as the centre’s spiritual leader, Macy said, and preached daily. Jack said residents were forced to convert to Christianity.

He witnessed Muslims being made to strip off religious clothing and abandon their faith to study the Bible under threat of punishment.

Jack spent time in detox, describing conditions worse than jail. He said he was housed with violent ex-convicts, including alleged members of the notorious numbers prison gangs.

ALSO READ: Here is how long you could spend in jail for drug trafficking in SA

Knives were hidden around the facility, sharpened on floors and used as intimidation tools.

“I feared for my life at every turn,” he said.

Punishments he endured included cleaning toilets covered in faeces, blood, or semen using bare hands or toothbrushes for hours.

Claims of medical neglect and overcrowding

Food, or lack of it, was another alleged form of punishment and control. Residents were allegedly fed shelf-life-expired groceries.

Jack said the kitchen was filthy. “We were once so hungry we stole brinjals from the kitchen and cooked them over candles in our dorm,” he said.

A punishment called “full hold” was described as physical and psychological torture.

Inmates were forced to sit on cold floors, drawing shapes on tiles with their fingers for 30 days, with food and basic comforts limited.

Others were made to dig holes with teaspoons in the garden, only to fill them in again.

Former inpatients said unqualified monitors dished out medication, and the only nurse ever present was a recovering addict who helped only during her tenure.

Macy claimed she saw a counsellor once. Jack was never on a psychologist’s couch at TRC. But at least one formal complaint was laid.

A South Coast social worker wrote to the department of social development in KwaZulu-Natal three years ago about the centre.

ALSO READ: Drug-addicted mother who killed son and went to church gets 20 years

In the letter, seen by The Citizen, the social worker, whose daughter-in-law was an inpatient, accused De Klerk of having a relationship with her son’s wife while she was vulnerable.

There are also questions surrounding TRC’s registration. An eThekwini municipality permit dated 2024 allows for the residence of 40 men and 30 women.

Another certificate, dated March this year and issued by the provincial department of social development, limits inpatients to 20 and notes that no detox activities may occur on the premises.

Macy and Jack both alleged, however, that over 100 patients were housed at the centre during their time, with severe overcrowding in the men’s quarters.

‘Control, power and profiting’

Former patient Bill said: “That place isn’t about healing. It’s about control, power and profiting off the vulnerable.”

Macy agreed. “They destroyed me. They will keep destroying others until someone stops them.”

The social worker’s letter to the department stated: “They have caused devastating harm to vulnerable people. They must be deregistered without delay.”

Psychologist and medical doctor Dr Jonathan Redelinghuys said: “Placing people dealing with addiction into environments that involve humiliation, deprivation, and violence creates extreme trauma responses.”

He said these conditions could lead to aggression, depression and learned helplessness.

According to Redelinghuys, addiction requires a dedicated team. “Detoxing can be life-threatening,” he said. “It requires professional, university-degreed medical oversight.”

NOW READ: R13m already overspent on Gauteng rehab stuck in planning phase since 2018