EVERY SUNDAY, pastors take to the pulpit and encourage people to live righteously.
And these sermons usually include turning people away from a life of lying, cheating and stealing.
BUT it seems a man of the cloth has failed to live up to his word.
EVERY Sunday, pastors take to the pulpit to share messages of living righteously.
And these sermons usually include turning people away from a life of lying, cheating and stealing.
However, it seems a man of the cloth has failed to live up to his word.
This after he was found on the wrong side of the law and sentenced for his misdeeds.
Pastor Walter Mashalane, also known as Major1’s son, was sentenced to five years imprisonment for firearm theft, possession of unlicensed firearm and ammunition.
The 46-year-old founder of In His Presence Ministries was sentenced by the Senwabarwana Regional Court in Limpopo on Friday, 15 July.
Police spokesman Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo said the court found that the accused approached one of his congregants and asked that she brought her husband’s two firearms to pray for them.
He claimed that he had a negative premonition about them in 2019.
The woman handed the firearms to Mashalane without the lawful owner’s knowledge.
Mojapelo said: “Afterwards, the lawful owner approached the pastor and asked him to hand the guns back, but he refused.”
He said a case of theft of firearms was subsequently opened and later transferred to the provincial detectives for investigation.
The case was assigned to Sergeant Noko Mashitisho for further investigation.
Assisted by the provincial tracking team, Mashitisho arrested the pastor on 10 September 2019 in Mukhurumela Village.
“Police found one firearm with ammunition concealed inside a ceiling after a thorough probe of the house.
“The other firearm was never recovered. The accused was later granted free bail with a warning until his five-year imprisonment on the said day.
“He was also declared unfit to possess a firearm,” he said.
Limpopo police commissioner Lieutenant-General Thembi Hadebe welcomed the positive outcome of the case.
“This should serve as a deterrent to other pastors that no one is above the law.
Pastors are supposed to provide spiritual guidance to society, not to be involved in criminal activities,” Hadebe said.
