New IPHC battles spillover to Botswana
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Monday August 21, 2023 06:00
The IPHC is headquartered in South Africa and the Botswana side was also affected after the death of IPHC leader, Bishop Glayton Modise in 2016. The battle for succession at Silo IPHC headquarters in South Africa has also been divided among the four factions here in Botswana.
Now, with information that the two warring Modise brothers, Leonard and Tshepiso have withdrawn their intention to pursue their fight for the ‘Comforter’ seat, the other legitimate son of the founder late IPHC leader, Glayton, is going all out to grab power. Michael Sandlana of the Jerusalem faction, who is apparently the half-brother to Modise’s sons, has been at loggerheads with Leonard and Tshepiso over the Silo leadership. The battle for the top seat took a dramatic turn at the Pretoria High Court a few months ago when the clashing Modise brothers reunited, withdrawing the court fight to settle the succession dispute.
The two brothers argued that the matter has been dragging for far too long. Sandlana’s attorneys have instructed Leonard, who is currently in Zuurbekom Silo, Westonaria, Gauteng to vacate the Silo headquarters seat so that he can take over the running of the church. Currently, Sandlana worships with his followers at a place called Jerusalem in SA.
Leonard is based at Silo headquarters while Tshepiso worships with his followers at Springs in SA. In an interview with Sandlana’s care taker in Botswana, priest Samuel Moruleng said the same take over that Sandlana is trying to do in SA will soon hit Botswana premises and courts.
Moruleng believes that the withdrawal of Modise’s sons' case is a clear indication that the two brothers do not have evidence that they are eligible to lead the church. “Our attorneys in SA had given them 14 days to have vacated Silo headquarters so that the Comforter Sandlana may occupy the seat. The same thing will happen in Botswana. We will have to make the same application that the followers or care takers for other faction leaders should vacate church premises to allow the rightful leaders to take over.
The fight was simply for money, but nothing else. Those people did not have the love of the church at heart and that is why church premises are guarded all over with armed men,” Moruleng said. Moruleng admitted that IPHC worshipers in Botswana are divided due to SA factions since the Botswana sect is an affiliate. Before his father died, Tshepiso was the leader of the choir called IPCC and he also believes that he is the rightful person to lead the church. While there is a demand on Sandlana to prove that he is Modise’ offspring, there are, however, those who insist that there is no need for a DNA test as the founder of the church has not guaranteed succession for his children. Still on the matter, there are those who believe that the constitution of the church does not stipulate so.
In Botswana a group led by Phetso Kgosiemang holds the view that IPHC does not belong to a family, therefore anybody lead it. “The constitution of the church is clear. Anyone could be a leader as long as he is groomed by the Comforter. It only requires one to have a gift of prophecy and healing. It does not stipulate that one has to be the son of the founder. In fact, the late Comforter addressed this matter before his death, that the church belongs to God not to an individual or a family. IPHC fights started when the sons of the late Comforter wanted to take over the church leadership and they did not even want to get advice of tbd c Church Council. The Church council was running the church smoothly,” Kgosiemang said in an interview on Wednesday. He said if the Church c Council had guided the church maybe, these issues or fights could have been avoided. Unlike other churches, Kgosiemang said the IPHC council does not have the power to decide for members to choose their leader.
However, the matter of who is illegible to take over at Silo has been dragging for seven years, which ended up discouraging some members according to Kgosiemang. His belief is that IPHC worshipers will not come together and rather leaders could establish their own churches because the matter has dragged on for many years.
Leonard has also demanded that Sandlana undergo a paternity test to determine if he is indeed the biological son of Modise He has also demanded that Sandlana produce evidence that contrary to claims that the late church leader died intestate, he had left behind a written will and DVD that contain details of the beneficiaries of his personal wealth worth hundreds of millions of rand. The care taker of Tshepiso in Botswana, Reverend Thatayaone Baipusi said; “this matter is before our attorney Tshiamo Rantao and if there is any development on the matter, he will inform us on what to do. I cannot divulge much until the issue is over.” When commenting on the matter, Rantao said there is already a Botswana case that is ongoing and Sandlana will have to make a new application if he wants to change some things in the country.
However, the care taker of Leonard's worshipers in Botswana, James Mannathoko said; “indeed there is a situation of factions within the church. There are three notable separate camps of worshippers. There is Leonard who heads the church at its headquarters in Silo (Zuurbekom, Gauteng province, South Africa). Tshepiso leads a faction that operates from Springs, Gauteng province, South Africa. These two are brothers, being the only sons of the late Comforter Modise.” He said Sandlana convinced part of the congregation to follow him by claiming that he is an unknown son of the late Comforter Modise. He added that Sandlana has occupied a branch of the Church in Oskraal, North-West province, called Jerusalem and uses it as his headquarters. He dismissed that Kgosiemang is neutral like he claims to be.
Mmannathoko said Kgosiemang operates his own unregistered church. “Our problem is his unsanctioned usage of the IPHC name and regalia and his bizarre claim that he is a successor in a dynasty he has no relation to whatsoever”. Mannathoko continued: “This is exactly the concern we are addressing and have been addressing since 2016. As the Youth League, we took it upon ourselves to research thoroughly on the issues that arose after the passing on of the late Comforter Modise. Together with other colleagues, we took it upon ourselves to present these issues to all members of the congregation in Botswana, even using audiovisual presentations.
We even wrote formal petitions to those who were in leadership in South Africa to present our misgivings with some actions we identified not to be proper. In the end, the vast majority of Botswana IPHC members remained within the mother body of the church while of course there were those who chose to follow the two factions that currently do not subscribe to IPHC headquarters in Silo.” He said as it stands, in Botswana, of the 17 branches, 11 are with the mother body, including the largest three being Gaborone, Maun, and Francistown. He said the Sandlana camp has four branches, while two branches have ceased to exist. He further revealed that even the Executive Committee itself is split on factional basis, so it is only functional in name. He said it is only the three office bearers of the church (those recognised by the Registrar of Societies, namely the chairperson, deputy chairperson and secretary) who are acting in unison to try to regularise things for the church. Mannathoko, however, said they are hampered by the challenge that as per the IPHC Botswana constitution, in most cases the prerogative to take certain actions solely lies with exco, which has long been paralysed by factionalism. He added that it is this state of affairs of exco paralysis that led members of the congregation here in Botswana to end up successfully holding special general meetings, one of which elected to recognise Leonard as the Comforter as way back as 2017.
He said in the absence of a functional executive committee, the three office bearers act as the defacto executive committee executing their fiduciary responsibilities and guiding the church in the current predicament they find themselves engulfed in. Mannathoko admitted that the two sons of the late Comforter Modise have come together and in the interest of the greater good of the church decided to withdraw an application made to the court on church issues because they believe God is fighting the war.
He also acknowledged that indeed Sandlana had written an eviction order last month (July), giving 14 days’ notice, that Leonard may vacate the Silo seat. He said Sandlana’s plan to eject Ntate Modise and his congregation from Silo is something he has been attempting all the way from 2018. However, Mannathoko blamed Sandlana for previous incidents that happened at the Silo headquarters, which resulted in five deaths, and that these attacks added to the many criminal cases Sandlana is facing in South Africa, including one where he is being tried for what they call 'death fraud' in South Africa. The IPHC was founded in 1962 by Comforter Frederick Samuel Modise. It was during those upheavals of 2016 and 2017 that the Modise family as a whole suffered the gross indignity of being exiled from their father's church and being prevented even from entering the premises.