{"id":29194,"date":"2025-03-17T08:00:17","date_gmt":"2025-03-17T06:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/?p=29194"},"modified":"2025-03-17T08:00:17","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T06:00:17","slug":"ex-congregants-say-rape-accused-pastor-zondo-is-a-cult-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/2025\/03\/17\/ex-congregants-say-rape-accused-pastor-zondo-is-a-cult-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-congregants say rape-accused pastor Zondo is a &#8216;cult leader&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-29196\" src=\"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/331CA09E-3ABA-4F00-BA39-E3417203E335.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"592\" height=\"394\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As rape-accused church leader, Stephen Zondo, prepares to return to the Pretoria High Court today, ex-congregants have described him as a cult leader who brainwashed worshippers.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Rivers of Living Water Church leader is accused of sexually assaulting several women who were his staff and church members.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Zondo faces 10 counts of rape for allegedly preying on them under the pretense of private prayer sessions.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The earliest charge dates back to 1980 when Zondo, then 15, allegedly raped a 7-year-old girl.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>In startling evidence, victims have detailed how male church ushers would assist the archbishop in his crimes, allegedly dragging the unwilling women to his chambers.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>After raping the women, it\u2019s alleged Zondo would leave them harassing phone calls, asking why they were no longer attending church.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>One anonymous congregant, who left after five years, has opened up about the alleged culture of shame and silencing that the Rivers of Living Water Church congregants experienced.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost of the rape victims do not want to come out. It\u2019s difficult. These perpetrators have lots of support, considering he\u2019s got a church boasting 20,000 members on any given Sunday,\u201d she said.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201c So coming forward with your case requires a lot. So for people to just come and ridicule, they must think twice,\u201d she added.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Zondo\u2019s followers insist he has been falsely accused.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This as many supporters made their way to the courtroom on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>His defense lawyer, Piet Pistorius, has described the case as a ploy to publicly destroy the reputation of the prominent church leader.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow do you destroy a man\u2019s reputation? You accuse him of rape,\u201d he said in court.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The case continues.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As rape-accused church leader, Stephen Zondo, prepares to return to the Pretoria High Court today, ex-congregants have described him as a cult leader who brainwashed worshippers.\u00a0 The Rivers of Living Water Church leader is accused of sexually assaulting several women who were his staff and church members.\u00a0 Zondo faces 10 ...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":29196,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/331CA09E-3ABA-4F00-BA39-E3417203E335.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29194"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29201,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29194\/revisions\/29201"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}