Bishop from eMbalenhle must pay with 8 cows
According to Bishop Thwala, the recording was of a sermon he preached five years ago in Gauteng.
eMBALENHLE – A local preacher was fined for allegedly hurling insults at the Ndebele tribe from the pulpit.
The Govan Mbeki Traditional Council fined Bishop Thokozane Thwala of Temple of Faith Fellowship Church in eMbalenhle with eight cows.
An audio recording of a church sermon is circulating on social media during which the preacher can be heard asking the congregation:
“What is isiNdebele?”
Bishop Thwala allegedly admitted it was him preaching on the audio recording.
Traditional leaders are now accusing him of promoting tribalism.
According to Chief Isaac Mahlangu, chairman of the Govan Mbeki Traditional Council, the leaders feel Bishop Thwala made light of their culture, making it off as “useless and unimportant”.
“We are the custodians of it and will defend and protect it,” said Chief Mahlangu.
“We were surprised by what we heard on the recording. We summoned the bishop for an explanation. He apologised for his behaviour, but traditionally he is supposed to be fined for admission of guilt. That is why he was fined eight cows. You cannot just undermine another nation’s culture and tradition then walk free.
“Why can he not talk about the Bible and leave us alone?” asked Chief Mahlangu.
The traditional council said Bishop Thwala is expected to appear before Nzunza Mabhoko Traditional Council in Weltevrede where he will be meeting King Mabhoko III soon to explain himself.
“We don’t know what would be the decision of our King about the bishop’s actions,” said Mr Mahlangu.
Ridge Times contacted Bishop Thwala and he confirmed everything what the traditional leaders said was true, and he refused to divulge on the matter.
“This matter is handled by traditional leaders. No one speaks after the amakhosi (traditional leaders),” said Bishop Thwala.
Local pastors under the eMbalenhle Ministers Forum said they were shocked by the finding after listening to the audio.
According to Bishop Thwala, the recording was of a sermon he preached five years ago in Gauteng.
The forum visited the traditional leaders when they realised that Bishop Twhala was receiving death threats after the leaked audio.
“We don’t know the motive behind the leaking of the audio after such a long time.
“The person who leaked the audio, cut it in the beginning and just left the part where the bishop talked about the Ndebele nation.
“We don’t know the intention and it proves that the person is jealous of the bishop’s success,” said Past Phillip Khumalo, eMbalenhle Pastors Forum chairperson.
He said this is a lesson to them as pastors that they need to be sensitive about people’s tradition and cultures when preaching.
“We need to stick to the Bible to avoid such troubles. We do not know how it is going to end because our member is awaiting his journey to eMthambothini (Weltevrede) where Nzunza Mabhoko from the Traditional Council and King Mabhoko III will decide further punishment,” said Past Khumalo.
