Omotoso instructed us to pray against his enemies, witness says

After his arrest, rape accused pastor Timothy Omotoso instructed the young women living in his  Durban mission house to pray for him and direct prayers against his enemies, including a magistrate and a prosecutor.

Testifying for the second day in the Omotoso trial in the Port Elizabeth High Court, state witness Andisiwe Dike, 30, said following Omotoso’s April 2017 arrest he would call the women at the mission house regularly and speak to them on a speakerphone.

According to Dike, Omotoso had a number of prayer books which contained prayers for different occasions and, after his arrest, he encouraged the women to use them against his enemies.

One such prayer included the passage “may the ground open up and swallow them … and cause confusion in the court”, Dike said.

In the weeks following Omotoso’s arrest, Dike and a number of other women remained at the Ridge Road, La Lucia property in Durban until the property was sold.

Three weeks after his arrest and when the food in the house ran out, Omotoso’s wife, Taiwo, allegedly went to the house and gave one of the women money to buy groceries.

It was the first time Taiwo had been to the house, Dike said.

According to Dike, in the lead up to his arrest, Omotoso had become more arrogant in his behaviour and in the manner in which he addressed his congregants. 

At one stage, Omotoso allegedly told parents in the congregation that if they thought he was sleeping with their children he did not care if they took the allegations to CNN.

Omotoso, co-accused Lusanda Sulani and a third accused, Zukiswa Sitho, face 63 main and 34 alternative charges against them ranging from rape to sexual assault, racketeering and human trafficking.

On Monday, the trio pleaded not guilty.

Earlier in her testimony, Dike said she was afraid of not returning to the mission house after she went to visit her mother in East London because she feared Omotoso would put a curse on her.

After leaving the mission house, Dike said she developed a serious drinking problem and suffered from depression.

She eventually went to a rehabilitation centre in East London and had gone for psychological counselling.

The defence attorney for Omotoso and his co-accused is expected to cross-examine Dike on Wednesday.