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The Eastern Cape department of social development is investigating yet another possible church cult after a video of a leader beating up congregants went viral.
Endumisweni Faith Mission in Mdantsane’s Nu 8 is run by controversial leader Tsidi Spampool, who is seen on the video assaulting two young female congregants. The young women’s “sin” was posting pictures of themselves allegedly drinking alcohol on social media.
After revelations of sexual abuse, arranged marriages and children being discouraged from going to school, Social Development MEC Phumza Dyantyi visited the church and dispatched a team of social workers to investigate and provide the victims with support.
In the video, Spampool can be seen using what appears to be a piece of hose to repeatedly flog a woman on her buttocks and on other parts of her body, while she lies helplessly in bed. The other young woman appears to plead for forgiveness, but her pleas fall on deaf ears as the church leader continues flogging her while other congregants look on.
When City Press visited the church this week, four members refused to comment, saying only Spampool was allowed to comment. The four congregants, three women and a man who introduced himself only as “umfundisi uGeorge”, also refused to provide Spampool’s contact details and said she was away and that they also couldn’t get hold of her.
An elderly woman said: “I have tried to call just now. She has been getting a lot of flak and maybe she just wants to be left alone. I don’t know where she is. I have been asking the children around the church, but they also don’t know where she is.”
The church property looks like a typical house in Mdantsane. Services are held in the lounge. A door from the lounge leads to what appears to be the bedroom.
Shacks have been erected at the back of the property, where some congregants live. These are the shacks where three children were rescued this week after being found to be living in squalid conditions.
Spampool eventually declined to comment, saying an SABC television show was coming to visit the church and she would be telling her side of the story on the programme.
Social development spokesperson Mzukisi Solani said the church was not supposed to keep underage children on the premises without being granted permission by a court.
He said they were told abuses at the church included “prearranged relationships where women are told which men to date”, which may turn into marriages.
“Even though it’s not for us to classify churches such as Endumisweni as a cult, its practices and reported alleged human abuses are bordering on it being referred to as such,” said Solani.
Solani said during their visit, Spampool confirmed she had assaulted the two young women and said she was given permission to “discipline” them by their parents.
He said Spampool told them that beatings were common and were part of the “church’s constitution”.
“She was showing no remorse and we are concerned about her utterances,” he said.
Reverend Lulama Ntshingwa, president of the SA Council of Churches in the Eastern Cape, said they wanted Endumisweni to be shut down immediately.
“We cannot even call it a church. It is a cult and must not continue to practise,” he said.
Ntshingwa said the council planned to visit Spampool to conduct its own investigation. He said he knew about the church, but was not aware of its “evil” practices.
“We have since learnt that marriages are arranged and that education is discouraged. These new churches mushrooming every day are usually the ones that come with these strange practices,” he said.
