Church members demand removal of pastor over immorality

Angry members of a church in Soweto, South Africa on Good Friday protested, waving placards and calling for the removal of their pastor for allegedly wrecking a family he had counseled.

Ezekiel Letlape ,45 from Dobsonville, Soweto claimed that his wife was cheating on him with the pastor. He even showed the SunTeam the loving SMSes (pictured) sent by his wife to the pastor. He said he tried to speak to the pastor but didn’t get straight answers...

"Then I took the matter to senior church members and asked for help." He said the pastor had helped him and his wife in the past. "Whenever there was a misunderstanding between me and my wife he would come and speak to us."

Letlape said he looked on the pastor as his father.

"I didn’t know that he was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He has torn my family apart," he said.

When Daily Sun SA spoke to Ezekiel’s wife Sentebaleng Letlape, 42 at their house, she admitted to sending loving SMSes to the pastor but she said she was not sleeping with the pastor.

"I was just flirting with him because I felt lonely and neglected by my husband. The pastor is very nice to everyone," she claimed adding that she and her husband have not slept in the same bed for two years because he was a serial cheater.

"He would sleep out and only come back the next morning. He didn’t want to sleep with me until one day I cheated on him openly to give him a taste of his own medicine."

Ezekiel confirmed that he had cheated on his wife in the past and it was the same pastor who counselled them about it.

When the SunTeam went to his office, the pastor asked not to be photographed and told the church secretary to speak to the paper. She said the pastor could not comment on the allegation against him because the matter was with the presbytery.

Church member Tebogo Sebokwane ,62 vowed there will be no service until the pastor steps down.

"We have evidence of the allegations and it is sad that he is implicated in such damning claims," he said.

Johannes Tlhapi, 56 said they had prepared for Easter prayers but they were disrupted because of a man who wouldn’t simply resign instead of waiting for an investigation.