Johannesburg - The ANC’s Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans League (MKMVA) and the ANC’s headquarters, Luthuli House, have denied any knowledge of controversial IPHC leader Bhekumuzi Michael Sandlana as a former Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) combatant.
Sandlana leads the Jerusalem faction of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC), Gauteng’s biggest traditional church.
Sandlana had claimed to be the son of the IPHC founder, the late MG Modise, and had initially claimed, in an affidavit, to have a will endorsing him as the church’s next successor.
Now, he has strangely changed his tune in the church’s succession battle.
In an odd turn of events, Sandlana said he didn’t have a will and refused to do DNA tests to confirm paternity.
Sandlana’s spin doctor, Vusi Ndala, told the media that the church didn’t require the leader to be of paternity to the Modises. The Modise family rejected Sandlana’s claim that MG was his father, calling him an imposter.
The ruling party is the latest to throw Sandlana under the bus. According to the Umkhonto we Sizwe records, no one under Sandlana’s names has ever been registered as an MK combatant after the unit’s unbanning in 1991 or was in any camp of the Struggle unit.
Apart from the police flagging Sandlana as having two ID numbers, the Department of Home Affairs confirmed to The Star that there is no registered link between the church founder and Sandlana.
According to the registrar of births, Modise’s only children are Julia Winifred Modise, Jenette Khumalo (née Modise), Tshepiso Modise, Sebitse Bertha Mabusela (now Modise), and Frederick Leonard Modise, who runs the church’s headquarters, called the Silo, in Zuurbekom, west of Johannesburg.
“The records are old and we have many combatants by different code names. But if an MK member later became a big bishop we would know. There are ANC structures in every branch.
“The last secretary-general of MKMVA, Commissar Santana, had records. Michael Sandlana was not in any record as a member nor a combatant of Umkhonto weSizwe,” the ANC said.
The bishop is also facing charges of fraud and corruption.
The Star