Jerry Koma, a senior ZCC church member and advocate, claims Bishop Barnabas Lekganyane and his followers are forcing funeral and accident insurance on church members in order to profit from them.
After Lekganyane and his ZCC attorneys Webber Wentzel dragged church members to court to change their practices, Koma issued a letter to them in May.
“BISHOP BARNABAS LEKGANYANE IS GETTING PAID BY MEMBERS,”
The Zion Christian Church (ZCC) head Bishop Barnabas Lekganyane and his followers are suing church members to make sure the insurance plan enriches him and his son Edward Lekganyane, according to attorney Jerry Koma.
According to Sunday World, Lekganyane and his followers made headlines in May when they brought the members of his church to court to get their permission to modify the terms of their accident and burial insurance plans.
The ZCC chief and his son Edward Lekganyane are seeking the court to modify the terms and conditions of the insurance plan, Kganya Benefit Fund Trust, which is insured by Sanlam Developing Markets, according to court documents submitted to the Pretoria High Court.
The trust’s beneficiaries, church members, have been funding the program through group insurance plans, and their contributions are detailed in the Pukwana Ya Kganya booklet they got from their branch leaders.
According to the church, Sanlam was unable to maintain the group policies due to changes in insurance legislation, so they needed to be updated.
Those who adhere to the terms and conditions of the modified plans will continue to get the benefits.
All ZCC members who disapproved of the amendment were invited by the insurance firm to submit a motion of intention, which will be considered on August 3.
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“KGANYA INSURANCE IS A BUSINESS,” says JERRY KOMA.
According to Sunday Worlds, Koma’s letter claims that the insurance program was a money-making scam, which is in direct opposition to the CRL Commission’s recommendation that churches refrain from using their members for personal gain.
With the exception of the fact that Kganya Insurance is a company, it was not intended to be imposed in a church like ZCC, which has a majority of vulnerable and poor members. Why did our bishop start this enterprise in his church, despite the CRL Commission’s warning to all religious leaders to stop and/or refrain from the idea of exploiting their followers’ faith by using them for business purposes?
Koma, a former magistrate in Mpumalanga, is also questioning why the program requires married participants to have two Kganya books rather than a single one.
The attorney continues by saying that the church must provide members the option to withdraw or join the scheme of their own free will and make the plan’s financial or bank statements available.
Lekganyane is not defrauding his supporters, according to Zelda Swanepoel of Webber Wentzel, who also claims Koma misread the application and the relief.
Swanepoel adds that Koma could leave the trust at any time and that his participation was voluntary.
However, Koma has denied Swanepoel’s request for bank statements, claiming that they are unrelated to the application.
She also advises him not to write letters to the church and to send them instead to the law firm because he lacks a legitimate reason to object to the application.
Even if Webber and Wentzel seek to impose a suitable cost order against Koma, he claims that he will continue to oppose the application.