- IFP founder and President Emeritus Mangosuthu Buthelezi on Saturday said he considered KwaSizabantu mission founder Erlo Stegen a friend.
- The reverend was also one of the guests at Buthelezi's 90th birthday,
- Buthelezi said he had been ministered to by the mission for 40 years.
KwaSizabantu - the KwaZulu-Natal mission which finds itself at the centre of claims of sexual abuse, physical violence, impropriety, virginity testing, racism and patriarchy - has been described by IFP founder and President Emeritus Mangosuthu Buthelezi as a "shining light of community development and industriousness".
Buthelezi said it was "devastating to see this institution damned and damaged before anything has been proven in court".
"There are many lives involved here. We need to be sensitive to all of them," he said on Saturday.
"The truth will emerge. Let us be patient and prayerful for everyone involved."
In an extensive statement, Buthelezi, who considered mission founder Erlo Stegen a friend, said the recent allegations of human rights abuses came as a "devastating shock".
"It is difficult to know what to think and how to react, because this case is complex and convoluted, involving very serious allegations, not only of physical and sexual abuse, but of money laundering, covert apartheid assistance, cultism and gross human rights violations," he said.
News24, after a seven-month investigation, revealed allegations of gross violations of human rights and alleged money laundering at one of Africa's biggest missions, founded 50 years ago in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
This resulted in a flood of personal accounts from other former mission members sharing their traumatic experiences at the mission station.
News24 recently reported on the alleged experiences of six women, who claimed to have been raped, sexually abused, molested or assaulted at the mission as far back as the 1980s.
Also, Koos Greeff, a once-respected leader at the mission, said he had acted as an informant for the apartheid government's Military Intelligence and Security Branch with the blessing of the KwaSizabantu leadership.
His alleged handler had moved to the mission in 1994.
The Hawks also confirmed to News24 that the Pietermaritzburg Serious Commercial Crimes Unit was investigating fraud allegations at KwaSizabantu.
The mission labelled the allegations levelled against it as a smear campaign.
Today a multi-billion rand establishment, KwaSizabantu was trying to manage the fallout across its mission's arms, as a boycott of aQuellé water - produced by Ekhamanzi Springs and owned by two members of the mission's leadership - gained traction.
Last week, Woolworths confirmed it had "ceased all orders with Emseni Farming" - a vegetable supplier owned by the mission - while it awaited further information from the supplier.
Massmart Holdings, owner of Makro, pulled aQuelle from its shelves, while Pick n Pay told Business Insider it had asked the supplier for answers to the allegations.
Buthelezi, who, in his statement said the party did not receive funding form the mission, said he and his family had received "spiritual support, and advice on growing our own vegetable crop" from Stegen and the mission's farmers.
Stegen was also one of the guests at Buthelezi’s 90th birthday, News24 reported.
Buthelezi said he had been ministered to by KwaSizabantu for 40 years and had never had "any cause to question the biblical teachings, the motives or the ministry of the mission".
He continued:
Buthelezi said asking people to boycott products from KwaSizabantu to financially collapse it, was "grossly irresponsible" as it would affect the livelihood of thousands of families.
"I am not saying that we must look the other way. And indeed, no one is looking the other way, for KwaSizabantu is now the subject of intense investigations.
"We must support the women who have spoken to News24, giving gut-wrenching testimonies of sexual and physical abuse. We pray that the full truth will be revealed through the investigations that have now been launched by the police, the South African Human Rights Commission and the Commission for the Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Linguistic and Religious Communities."
Police investigations into the money laundering claims would show if there was "any wrongdoing" and who it involved, he said.
"But until then, it cannot be assumed that the allegations are true. I do not say this lightly.
"My wife and I sent most of our grandchildren to Domino Servite School, to be educated at KwaSizabantu. The school has a reputation for producing excellent academic results and, understandably, for being strict.
"It was precisely for these reasons that we chose it. Two of our grandchildren were, in fact, expelled for contravening the well-known rules."
The mission was being investigated by the SA Human Rights Commission, the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL Rights Commission), as well as the KwaZulu-Natal social development department.