Why did Erlo Stegen let Lydia Dube go through with all this? A rumour won’t go silent.
The latest revelations about the machinations of the “fallen angel” of the “Mission Kwasizabantu”, Lydia Dube, raise in circles of the “Mission”, among its followers and former members a question of particular topical interest. Everyone is looking for an explanation as to why the protagonist of the alleged “revival”, Erlo Stegen, despite her numerous misdemeanours up to criminal acts, had such an unbreakable relationship with Lydia Dube that she could do whatever she wanted without having to fear any consequences. Everyone is puzzled about the secret of the relationship between Erlo Stegen and the woman who allegedly died in her youth, met Jesus in heaven, and was sent back to earth by the Son of God because her friends mourned her so much. Everyone asks themselves: Why did Lydia have a “free ticket for sin” with Erlo?
On the grounds of the “Mission” a sentence has long been circulated which Lydia Dube recklessly expressed to several co-workers. It reads: “I can destroy the work Kwasizabantu in one day, if I want it”. But it is not only since this sentence has been circulating that Lydia Dube’s special role in KSB has been whispered about; for many years there have been speculations about the unassailability of the “Sizabantu saints”, often described as bossy, unfriendly and calculating. The rumour that the Lydia Dube’s grand threat about her immense power over Erlo Stegen’s work could perhaps be explained is: Stegen and Lydia Dube had a sexual relationship, she has one of his children.
This old rumour never stopped in Kwasizabantu, it always got new food when Lydia Dube was mentioned in KSB. At first, in the 90s, it was said that Erlo Stegen and Lydia Dube had a relationship with each other, then a sexual relationship was reported behind closed doors, later it was said that she had one of his children. She was said to have had to give this child up for adoption in order to preserve the mission’s reputation. Many staff members and alumni of the mission know the rumor, nobody could confirm it so far.
In a reader’s letter to an article by Dr. Peet Botha in his https://themissionary.blog/ a few weeks ago, a “Concerned” wrote that there were witnesses that Lydia Dube had actually been on diving duty in the Tugela District several years ago and had given birth to a child. He writes:
“Let’s just stay here for a moment: There are ZULUS who testify that many years ago there was a certain Thofozi Dube, sister of Jabulane Dube, (yes, THE Thofozi and THE Jabulane) who, while some in the main mission asked where Lydia disappeared, was seen for many weeks in the district of Tugela, pregnant (not by the Holy Spirit, if I may add) and finally highly pregnant, until the birth of a child who was immediately put up for adoption. It is ZULUS who confirm this, not “ignorant whites. But of course – since they are so good – the Dubes today will undoubtedly deny everything and pretend to be the “unjustly slandered” ones.”
“Concerned” seems, after all he writes, to know a lot about KSB in South Africa. We can’t check the truth of the matter right now – but, as they say, almost every rumour has some true core. So was Dieter Stegen, the son of Heino Stegens. He sat around with an innocent child at “Christen für die Wahrheit”, came to sessions of “True Love waits” – and had long been the father of an illegitimate child with a Zulu woman. As always, the rumor was vigorously denied and denied until it was no longer possible and everyone knew: It’s not a rumor, it’s a fact. The so-called “revival” was embarrassed to the bone – above all because of the failed secrecy of the matter.
The overly secretive policy in Kwasizabantu is probably the reason why the rumour mill was always there about all sorts of things and the most desert stories were told. That’s why Lydia Dube doesn’t have to be like that – but it could. The rumours about Lydia’s child, by the way, sometimes became more concrete with increasing duration – but not more precise. Again and again there was talk of a son who would study in Switzerland. Some even want to know the name – Balu. But from time to time it was said that it was a daughter – but nobody knew exactly. Just as the Mission Kwasizabantu could not find witnesses for sometimes outrageous miracles but put unchecked allegations in the air, nobody could prove the existence of a child of Erlo and Lydia Dube. Nevertheless, it is true that Lydia Dube did not stay on Mission Kwasizabantu for several months in the 90’s during the time that came into question for the birth of a child and no one officially knew where she was. That doesn’t mean anything either – but it can. If “Concerned” by Zulus writes that could confirm that Lydia Dube “was seen for many weeks in the district of Tugela … pregnant and finally highly pregnant …” this may be true, but would be more convincing than these hints, especially in view of the current development in Kwasizabantu to call these witnesses and let them speak.
Since in the “mission” at present things happen that nobody would have thought possible, it cannot be excluded that the rumor about “Mama Dube” is true. It would again confirm the old classification of leaders in sects of whom three things are repeatedly mentioned about which they fall: Sex, power and money. Lydia Dube’s threat to destroy Erlo Stegen’s mission in one day must have a serious background – such a threat is a blackmail according to the motto: “If this doesn’t work the way I want it, then I’ll destroy everything”. Has she been in control of Erlo Stegen for years with this – or another secret? Was she able to put him under pressure or even blackmail him into letting her crooked business, a kidnapping, lies about lies and all her escapades like visits to casinos and contacts with witch doctors go through again and again? And: Did this possibly make Erlo Stegen himself a slave to what he would have condemned to the extreme as sin in others?
We don’t know. But the question of Erlo Stegen’s free ride for Lydia Dube’s sins remains. It may never be answered. Because Lydia Dube doesn’t have to threaten anymore, because she alone knows the secret of her relationship with Erlo Stegen. She has what she wanted: The power in Kwasizabantu, the power over an Erlo Stegen who is helpless because of his dementia and the power over the money of the “mission”. Why should she, if that were the case, sound the alarm to the whole world that she has a child of Erlo Stegen? Why should she still want to destroy Erlo Stegen’s work today with the revelation of such a secret, when she is the beneficiary of Erlo Stegen’s work?
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator