KwaSizabantu inquiry hears how children were 'beaten into obedience'
Tuesday was the second day of a three-day probe into KwaSizabantu Mission which is facing allegations of abuse, financial misconduct and that it's a cult.
The Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities is holding the inquiry in Durban.
It's heard from Pieter Becker who worked as a pastor at the mission from 1995 to about 2012.
He said when he worked there, a woman came forward to say she'd been raped - but when she sought help from co-workers - she was dismissed.
He says there's other abuse at the church.
"Children get beaten into obedience. I don't know if they still beat them. But that being publicly shamed and put under pressure, being thrown away by your own parents.
READ: Beitbridge fence needs drones and sensors – Mapisa-Nqakula
"KwaSizabantu denies that they are a cult, show me one congregation that is a normal congregation where if you leave that congregation and go to another is where they ostracize you."
Becker says the church's leaders have total control over the minds of those who live at the mission.
"I have experienced KwaSizabantu pushing - especially the youth - away from God, many leave there being atheists. They don't want anything to do with this farm.
The commission will continue listening to testimonies of alleged victims on Wednesday.
