Getrude Makhafola

Getrude Makhafola

The Hope of Glory Church in Vosloorus was filled to capacity yesterday. Among the congregants where a number of pupils who were on a peculiar mission.

They wanted the Reverend Kenneth Meshoe to pray for their deliverance from "evil spirits" disrupting their schooling - and the reverend was up to the task.

In a charged service, the leader of the African Christian Democratic Party told the devil and the ancestors to leave the children alone. Meshoe said he hated it when ancestral spirits haunted innocent souls.

"God does not want anybody to suffer," he declared. "What these youngsters are going through is nothing but pure suffering. They do not have a choice but to do as these spirits want - to work for the demons. Why?"

The congregants screamed: "In the name of Jesus, we come against the evil spirit! We rebuke Satan in the name of Jesus."

The pupils claim they are always sick, especially during school hours and that medical doctors are unable to help them.

Penelope Mchunu, 17, said: "This thing just comes out of nowhere. I feel sick during the day, sometimes my whole body will just feel weak and I cannot concentrate in class."

She said people had told her this was "a calling" and advised her to become a traditional healer.

"I'd rather work for my God than train to be a traditional healer," she said. "That is why I came here to receive the glory of God."

Another youth, speaking anonymously, said he was tired of what he called the "evil spirit".

"I seem to lose interest in my education because of this, why should this happen to youngsters like us?" he lamented.