Actress Ayanda Borotho has sparked sharp debate after questioning why people pay tithing at church when they are so hesitant to give to the needy.

The Isibaya star posted a picture of a child crying under a caption about everything happening for a reason.

She didn't hold back in the caption, taking aim at those who 'give money to God' but not to those they pass on the street.

"We get into our expensive cars, to go to our state-of-the-art churches, in our designer clothes, with hard cash or credit cards [churches have card machines nowadays] so we can give God money God doesn't need," she wrote.

"And in the middle of all of that while we drive to church we pass hungry women with their children, begging on the street for just a plate of food and we drive past many of them, to give God our money, to serve, to worship."

She added that people comforted themselves by holding special community projects every six months and thinking it was enough.

"We hold special services for the needy once every six months and hand out food and parcels. And we feel better. Ahhh.

"We feel so much better. And then every other Sunday we go back to our state-of-the-art church buildings to 'serve' God."

She said that we all have the potential to be the "God" in another person's life but held back because we thought we were better than those we could help.

"People are searching for God and we deny them this God every day because we think we are better."

Borotho plays the character of Phumele Zungu, the wife of Mpiyakhe, who is portrayed by Siyabonga Twala in the popular Mzansi Magic soapie.