Five PE FM presenters, including the station manager Ronald “Ronnie” Johnson, have quit the Nelson Mandela Bay Christian radio station amid clashes with its board chair and prominent pastor Jerome Liberty.
This comes at a time when the station’s audience figures peaked at an all-time high of 49,000, according to its recent audience measurement survey.
Four of the presenters claimed to have been fired because they started asking questions about the station’s finances and their association with a newly founded church led by Johnson.
However, Liberty – who is the founder and senior pastor of the popular Victory Ministries International – said the four ordinary presenters had been suspended pending an investigation into their alleged misconduct at prayer rallies.
The presenters, pastors Ragmaan Mohamed, Gerald Kelly, Jan Strydom and EE Jantjies, claimed they were dismissed for raising questions about the use of money raised from prayer rallies and telethon fundraising campaigns.
The presenters claimed they were unfairly dismissed.
They accused Liberty of being a dictator.
“What came [from] the station manager to us when [he dismissed us] is we could sense that he wanted us to leave everything.
“But unlike him we are not dependent on Pastor Jerome – we are volunteers at the station.”
However, Liberty said he had given Johnson a directive to suspend them until they could have a meeting where he could interrogate them regarding their alleged misconduct such as using prayer rallies to promote their own church.
“I do not know these men because I’m not involved with the day-to-day running of the station,” Liberty said.
“When they came to the station they were not even pastors. They were doing the prayer rallies and they had their own agenda with a bishop who is abroad. I called [Pastor Ronnie] in to address this.”
The station’s bank statements – which Liberty showed to The Herald – reflected all the donations from the prayer rallies as well as from the telethon campaign.
The statements reflected only payments for operational expenses such as phones bills and petrol expenses as having left the account.
The men had also questioned what they claimed was an irregular formation of the board.
Explaining how the board was formed, Liberty said: “We have a licensing founding statement board that was established as an NPO before the station was opened, and they are the policemen of the station.
“It’s not the first time, especially here in PE, that someone tries to steal a radio station, but fortunately we had made provision for such.”
A licensing founding statement allows for the member registered under the NPO to form part of the board for as long as the radio station is in operation.
Johnson said he submitted his letter of resignation last week after what Liberty described as a dramatic meeting between the two men.
Johnson refused to comment further and declined an invitation to meet with Liberty and a reporter on Monday.
Liberty said the conduct of the station manager over the past few years had raised concerns that his loyalty was no longer with the station but his own ambitions.
“When I first employed Pastor Ronnie it was because of his knowledge and his people skills – but the plus [factor was the fact that he was neutral] in terms of church.”
Liberty said issues started when Johnson began showing preference to a certain church – contrary to the station’s policy – and further using the PE FM platform to harvest fellowship.
“In church circles this is division, it is divisive, it is a personal agenda and we have proof [of] that – he denied it.
“This issue started three months ago after I [decided to attend] a prayer rally where he was distributing pamphlets for a [rally he would host under a certain church].
“I confronted him about this and told him he could not build an audience at the expense of the station.
“We have also received complaints regarding this, as the board,” Liberty said.
The group also claimed that staff working for the station had no contracts. Liberty disputed this. “Every single person who works here on the inside, he [Johnson] has appointed.
“His signature is on the [contractual agreements]; the proof is here,” Liberty said, showing the documents.
“The funny thing is, the four presenters I asked him to [suspend], their contracts are not here and that’s why I wanted him to be here at this meeting.”
Liberty said the station had negotiated a settlement with Johnson.