By Enyichukwu Enemanna
At least five persons have been taken into custody after a pentecostal pastor, Mboro, whose real name is Paseka Motsoeneng invaded a primary school on Monday, wielding machete to forcefully remove two children at the centre of custody dispute.
Mboro, who leads the Incredible Happenings Church at the incident was flanked by a man carrying what police have since identified as a replica firearm.
Five people arrested following the incident at the school are currently in custody, police said but it is not clear if Mboro was among those arrested.
“I am absolutely incensed by this attack on our schools, staff and learners.
“No one – absolutely no one – should break into schools with weapons interrupting teaching and learning time and terrorising children,” the country’s Minister of Education, Siviwe Gwarube said in response to the incident on a social media post.
Meanwhile, a viral video has shown pastor Mboro waving blades during the tense stand-off with teachers in Katlehong, a township just outside Johannesburg where the school is located.
Provincial authorities said the video showed “acts of intimidation and violence” and men “harassing learners and teachers”.
A separate video has shown Pastor Mboro’s church, housed in a marquee tent, going up in flames as thick, black smoke billows from it after it was torched by angry residents.
Pupils in school uniform were seen running from the church, which was also looted, News 24 report has indicated.
Authorities in the district of Ekurhuleni, where the church is located, said on social media platform X: “Anger erupted after Mboro wasn’t arrested following yesterday’s (Monday) incident, leading to the tent burning”.
The post also said Pastor Mboro was arrested on Tuesday morning, a report yet to be confirmed by the police.
Pastor Mboro like several other African pentecostal leaders is a self-styled prophet with thousands of followers across South Africa.
He has claimed to perform miracles such as healing people during sermons and delivering a fish from the womb of a pregnant woman.
