DURBAN - SOME members of the Nazareth Baptist Church have criticised the march that brought Durban to a standstill on Tuesday, saying it did not represent the church’s principles.
The march saw about 6 000 people dressed in white church attire, walking from the King Dinuzulu Park to the Durban City Hall, singing and holding placards in support of Mduduzi Shembe, who they regard as the leader of the Ebuhleni faction of the church.
The church has been involved in a protracted leadership dispute that went to court following the death of the church’s spiritual leader, Vimbeni Shembe, in 2011.
The now late Vela Shembe was declared his successor following a Durban High Court ruling in 2016.
Mduduzi took the matter on appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal, and then to the Constitutional Court. But the Concourt refused leave to appeal in June this year.
The dispute has seen the church being split into two factions, with those who agreed with the court’s decision called the Thembezinhle branch, and those who regard Mduduzi as their leader, who are referred to as the eBuhleni branch.
Nkululeko Mthethwa, formerly of the Thembezinhle branch, said the church’s principles did not allow them to participate in a march.
“We do not march, it is not part the church’s principles. A church must have a leader, and the leader was long declared by the court despite the attempts to appeal against this decision, which have failed four times.
“We therefore would like to apologise to the public and the residents of Durban who were affected by the march. That is not us, and that is not what we stand for as the Church of Nazareth,” he said, insisting that there were no factions as there was only one Shembe church that was declared by the court.
Mthethwa said the group that took part in the march was not recognised by law.
“Firstly, we would like to state that there is only one Nazareth Baptist Church, which is eBuhleni. Thembezinhle came to an end after the official ruling of the court.
“We are not the other branch of the church, we are the Nazareth Baptist Church eBuhleni, and that is by law. The people who participated in the march on Tuesday are just supporters of the other contender,” said Mthethwa.
But the march convenor, Nkosinathi Makhanya, was adamant that the participants of the march were official members of the church.
“There are certain procedures to be followed in order to be part of the church, and all the people who were part of the walk on Tuesday have undergone those processes. Whoever said we are not part of the church is misleading people,” he said.
Makhanya said Tuesday’s event was not necessarily a march, but a peaceful walk and prayer to hand over their memorandum of grievances.
“As you might have seen, there was no chaos, we handed over our memorandum, prayed and we peacefully left,” he said.
While there were rumours that Mduduzi Shembe was set to be evicted from the eBuhleni homestead in Inanda following the June court ruling, Makhanya disputed those claims.
“The property does not belong to the church, but to the family of Shembe and their descendants. No one has the right to evict the family,” he said.
Mthethwa said they were not aware of any evictions that should take place following the court ruling.
“If there is, we would need to get validation from our lawyers and let them handle that process via the legal route,” he said.
THE MERCURY