Dad goes to court to keep 11-year-old son away from his former wife’s ‘cult-like rituals’ Ex-husband ‘had to concoct something to make it sound crazy … He couldn’t base it on me just being a Christian’

In the corridors of the South Gauteng High Court, a cheerful 11-year-old runs towards his mother to give her a hug. Inside the court room, however, a note in his handwriting paints a chilling picture of life in their Johannesburg home. “All things that have pictures of skulls, ghosts, magic, mythical creatures, superhero e.g. Spiderman and pictures of celebrities are burnt in a fire,” the note says. “People who are ‘Possessed’ are by choice prayed for and most of them make scary noises and this happens during all night Friday night and when an exorcism happens I am allowed to go to sleep.”

The boy’s note forms part of an urgent challenge by his father to have his son live with him until a custody dispute with the boy’s mother, whom he divorced nine years ago, is resolved. The boy spent the recent school holidays with his father, a foreign-born businessman who recently moved back to South Africa. When the boy was due to be returned to his mother’s home, the father instead went to court, claiming that he needed to protect the boy from the mother’s “cult rituals” — including exorcisms and excessive prayer. Conducting her own defence, the businesswoman — a former beauty queen in her 30s — denied she was a member of a cult or that any exorcisms took place at her home. Instead, she said she had been a born-again Christian — “essentially a Bible-believing Christian” — since 2006, and held prayer meetings in a room outside her house twice a week. She was adamant that she was bringing up her son, and his four-year-old brother from a subsequent relationship, in accordance with her beliefs. She said her ex-husband did not like her Christianity and “had to concoct something to make it sound crazy … He couldn’t base it on me just being a Christian,” she said.

The woman also had to bear testimony from her mother, who supported her former son in-law’s application, and had to respond to claims about her faith, her preference for vegetarian food and homeopathic medicine.

In court papers, her mother claimed her daughter had been “brainwashed” after becoming a member of a “cult”, and was forcing her grandsons to be a part of it. She said she had witnessed an exorcism at the house and was worried that she “will soon be burying her grandchildren”. She also claimed the children were not being fed properly because her daughter regarded certain food, such as sweets and meat, as having the devil in them. But the boy’s mother said she believed in “healthy eating” and moderation. “I don’t want my children to be slothful,” she told the court.

And although she is a vegetarian — and had been before she became a born-again Christian — she said she cooked meat for her eldest son, because it was his choice.

But the biggest issue her mother and ex-husband have is with her religious practices. They claimed she had formed her own church, which she ran from her home, and that the focus of their faith was to “conduct spiritual warfare” to protect themselves from “all evil devils and demons” .

They claimed the boy was forced to take part in regular “praying ceremonies” and “specific rituals” and was “scared” of returning to his mother because he could become the subject of an exorcism and was prevented from doing “normal things”. “He is not allowed to own or ride a skateboard, wear any ‘forbidden’ T-shirts, read Harry Potter or go to the movies with his friend or on a school outing,” the father said in court papers. The woman’s mother also claimed that she refused to take the boy to doctors because they were “evil and from the devil”.

But the mother said her son had never been forced to participate in the prayer meetings she held at her home, although she did take him to church on Sundays.

She denied not taking her son to doctors, saying that although she preferred homeopathic medicine, she never forced this on anyone else. In fact, she said, she had taken the boy to visit doctors and dentists regularly, as well as a psychologist.

She did, however, concede that she did not allow her son to read certain books, including the Harry Potter series, and to watch certain television programmes or films because of his age.

“I raise my children in my faith. I didn’t know there was anything wrong with that,” she told the court. “The issue is whether I raise my children Christian or atheist.”

She added in court papers: “I am, after all, raising my son in the best way I know. As far as I know, the parent who has custody has the right to dictate the minor child’s everyday lifestyle, as long as there is no abuse or harm involved.”

But the father, who did not want to speak to the Sunday Times, in his court papers, said he simply did not agree with his ex-wife’s beliefs. “As (his) father, I do not subscribe to the respondent’s new faith nor approve of it. I find it fundamentalist and bordering on the absurd.” On Thursday the court granted a three-month interim order for the boy and his parents to seek counselling and for investigations by, among others, the family advocate and a nutritionist to be completed. In the meantime, the boy will stay with his father and his mother will have access rights. hawkeyk@sundaytimes.co.za

KIM HAWKEY

A Cape Town tattoo artist is off to an international tattoo show in Las Vegas after inking a portrait of Madiba on a client’s thigh this week.

Rob Turner was chosen as one of two South Africans who will go to “The Biggest Tattoo Show on Earth” next month after organisers saw his Madiba portrait on his website .

Turner said it was the first time he had attempted a portrait of the 91-year-old political icon, and had charged R4000 for it.

During the expo, Turner said he would tattoo a portrait in front of a live audience and would be competing with other artists. “Portrait tattoos are a specialised field and I have always wanted to do one (of Madiba),” he said. The show, which last year attracted about 100000 tattoo enthusiasts, is hosted by former rock drummer Tommy Lee, who was once married to Baywatch actress Pamela Anderson. — Amukelani Chauke

The Spier estate and Stellenbosch municipality have forged an innovative deal that gives the landless access to farms

Wine tycoon and philanthropist Adrian Enthoven and subsistence vegetable farmer Peter Stone have about as much in common as champagne and diesel oil. Enthoven is a member of one of SA’s wealthiest families and owner of Spier, one of the country’s award-winning wine estates near Stellenbosch, while Stone is a hands-on farmer with dirt under his nails. But now the two men are unlikely neighbours — thanks to a major land deal in the winelands, the first of its kind and potentially a model for future projects countrywide. Rather than tilling Enthoven’s soil — as Stone did for several years — the straight-talking boer from Jamestown, outside Stellenbosch, is now one of 13 farmers to be allocated a lease on a 5ha allotment on a hilltop portion of municipal common land. The deal is about to be formalised, with the Stellenbosch municipality — which owns the land — expected to grant final approval this month. Spier previously leased the 65ha of municipal land from Stellenbosch council, but gave up the lease in 2003 and assisted the farmers by paying their rental and water charges of R150000 a year. Spier also donated tools and equipment to get the farmers started. The municipality recently agreed to reduce the rental and to support a R10-million infrastructure upgrade project financed by the national Department of Land Affairs. The subsistence farmers, who formed a collective, the Stellenbosch Small Farm Holdings Trust, grow everything from fancy lettuce to organic strawberries. Escorting the Sunday Times around his land this week, Stone said: “For eight years we struggled. We’ve learnt a lot. We proved to them (the council and Spier) that we could survive.” The small-scale farmers, mainly farm labourers, spent the years leading up to the deal working land belonging to Spier.

Although Enthoven this week chose to stay out of the limelight, his colleagues highlighted his role as crucial to the project’s success. Spier’s sustainability director, Tanner Methvin, said: “Adrian’s role is not one of passive acceptance of these initiatives, but very much an enthusiastic driver of these initiatives. For him land reform has always been very important and he has always wanted to make sure that Spier is playing a meaningful role in the land reform movement in Stellenbosch.”

But the subsistence farmers would still be picking other people’s grapes if it wasn’t for years of behind-the-scenes work by a large team of lawyers and town planners, including Stellenbosch mayor Patrick Swartz, who said more land would be made available. Swartz said: “It is one of my major programmes in my term to make more land available to previously disadvantaged people. “By us looking at using the land resources we have, we are actually killing two birds with one stone, alleviating poverty and unemployment and at the same time addressing the issue of a balance in land ownership (between black and white).”

The Stellenbosch municipality is the seventh-richest non-metropolitan municipality in the country — one of the reasons being its considerable commonage land holdings of 1700ha, worth in the vicinity of R1.5-billion. Much of the land is tied up in commercial farm leases similar to the one Spier held. Land reform experts this week said the project was testimony to what could be achieved if stakeholders pooled their resources. The land transfer was so unusual that policymakers had to come up with brand-new policy frameworks. One of the project leaders, Professor Mark Swilling of Stellenbosch University, said: “We are making it up as we go along. Right in the middle of meetings we reinvent the story.”

BOBBY JORDAN

One of former president Nelson Mandela’s VIP police security guards shot himself at the statesman’s home in Houghton, Johannesburg, yesterday morning.

Mandela was at home at the time of the incident, but, according to the police, he was not in any danger. The 37-year-old sergeant, who may not be named until his next-of-kin have been notified, was with several colleagues in the guardhouse when he turned his police-issued gun on himself at 11am. The police would not say where the bullet had entered his body, but confirmed that he had died on the scene. Police Captain Dennis Adriao said the sergeant was part of the VIP static protection unit that was responsible for guarding buildings. “He was part of the first-line security,” he said. He explained that the guard was stationed in the guardhouse, which is built into the outside wall of the property in front of the house, and was the first point of security that visitors encountered. However, Adriao would not give details of the full extent of security allocated to the former president.

“We don’t elaborate on that,” he said. The guard, previously a member of the South African National Defence Force, joined the police service in 2005. He was married with three children. The motive for the shooting remains unclear. Chief executive of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Achmat Dangor, said the foundation was not aware of the incident. Mandela’s grandson, Chief Mandla Mandela, said: “These are people who are supposed to be guarding not only my grandfather but the president … The question is: how secure are our VIPs if someone who is supposed to be guarding them uses a firearm on himself?” Mandela said he would be calling his grandfather’s presidential protection unit to discuss the incident. He only became aware of the shooting after being contacted by the Sunday Times.

Rory Steyn, Mandela’s former bodyguard, said policemen were under constant pressure. “He could have done it because of personal or financial problems,” said Steyn.

Kim Hawkey and Prega Govender

Leon on his way to Argentina embassy In a surprise move, former DA leader Tony Leon has been handed a diplomatic posting by President Jacob Zuma.

The Sunday Times has established that Leon is to be named South Africa’s ambassador to Argentina. Leon, who as leader of the official opposition had a hostile relationship with former President Thabo Mbeki, has commended Zuma’s accommodating leadership style before and after his election as president. International Relations director-general Ayanda Ntsaluba said this week that three diplomatic postings would be announced tomorrow, but would not give names.

However, it has been independently confirmed that Leon is one of those, together with former minister of social development Zola Skweyiya and former arts and culture minister Pallo Jordan. Jordan is due to be posted to the United Nations and Skweyiya is headed for Britain. Ntsaluba said he was “more comfortable leaving” the matter “at the level of speculation”, adding he was cautious about releasing names of those appointed pending the conclusion of agreements with the countries where they are to be stationed. “We have made mistakes in the past when we released names, and ended up confirming and sometimes it appeared bad because if we have not secured the agreement the host country begins to think we are taking them for granted.” Credited for building the DA into a strong opposition, Leon was succeeded as DA leader by Hellen Zille in 2007. He retired from parliamentary politics on the eve of the 2009 election. In his autobiography On the Contrary, Leon writes at length about his frosty relationship with Mbeki, contrasting it with the cordial relationship he had with Nelson Mandela. Mandela once offered him a cabinet position, but Leon declined. During the 2009 election campaign, Leon broke ranks with Zille on her views about Zuma, saying his lack of formal education was “utterly irrelevant” to his ability to make sound judgments.

Leon, who did not return calls from the Sunday Times yesterday, is the third DA member to be appointed ambassador by the post-Mbeki administration, after former parliamentary leader Sandra Botha was made ambassador to the Czech Republic and senior MP Sheila Camerer to Bulgaria by interim president Kgalema Motlanthe earlier this year. Former DA chief whip Douglas Gibson was appointed ambassador to Thailand during Mbeki’s tenure. $(li type>square$) Meanwhile, former Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana is tipped to take over from Vusi Pikoli as National Director for Public Prosecutions . Senior government officials said Zuma is awaiting for the outcome of Pikoli’s high court bid, which seeks to stop the president from announcing Pikoli’s successor before a final ruling on Pikoli’s dismissal as national director. Pikoli is challenging his dismissal in court.

MPUMELELO MKHABELA