Ascension Day is actually a day to commemorate Jesus’ ascension into heaven. But on Ascension Day in 2019, there was obviously something much more important than Jesus at Mission KwaSizabantu. For in a two-hour meeting – it cannot be called a church service – Lidia Dube registered her claim to leadership in KSB. Although she spoke of never registering it. In a way, it was a coup d’état.
One of the sure signs of a cult is that there is a big gap between what it claims to be and do and what it actually is and does. Whenever the gap is all too wide again and the contradictions of the KSB sect become obvious even to its chiefs, they pull out all the stops to somehow hide this from the outside world. Some contradictions would probably have been too exposing. For example, the one on Ascension Day 2019. Those strange speeches in the meeting, murder fantasies and rantings, the humiliating scenes, vicious backbiting and outright backhanded accusations, what else did all that have to do with a Christian mission? Someone on KSB must have noticed that such a meeting is not a good advertisement for a “revival”. Since then, these historic hours for KwaSizabantu are no longer to be found in the mission’s rich video offerings.
But the video still exists – and can be seen here. Or to read. The tedious and long recording consists of two parts, but on top of that we have transcribed it into English and removed the Zulu part.
In the meeting, Lidia Dube began by making all kinds of claims about the grandeur of the Dube clan and emphasising her own immense importance. Then she expressed murder fantasies, claiming that Koos Greeff and Peet Botha had joined forces with dubious characters to either poison or shoot them. As an aside, both Koos Greeff and Peet Botha were officially ordained ministers in the Reformed Church, both have doctorates in theology and have been actively involved in spreading the gospel all their lives. A murder plot by two pastors?
In the course of the meeting, she claims that she would never take over the management of KSB because she has great respect for Erlo Stegen. And there it is again, the gap between assertion and reality: one only has to look at the lists of directors or trustees of the more than 26 companies linked to KSB and the truth is clear: Lidia Dube is in charge!
Next she attacks Arno Stegen for allegedly mismanaging KSB’s finances and accuses him of being responsible for the disappearance of huge amounts of money. As an aside, Arno Stegen was acquitted in all investigations into the mismanagement of KSB finances. Nevertheless, the pressure on him was so great that he broke down and in the course of the meeting tried in extreme humility to apologise for wrongdoing. It was no use. Jabulani Dube, brother of Lidia Dube, nevertheless showered him with further accusations in front of the assembled audience.
Ascension Day 2019 was the day the Dubes declared war on the Stegens and will go down in history as the “Day of the Coup” on Mission KwaSizabantu. The event can be retraced here.
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One reply on “A video that should no longer exist…”
I don’t really want to play devil’s advocate, but the argument that ordained pastors cannot engage in a “murder plot” is absurd. This is not directed at the two individuals mentioned. Still, in general, church history, including recent times, has proven more than enough of what ordained pastors and priests are capable of (I am a member of a group of ex-evangelicals on social media together with a former pastor whose colleague was convicted and jailed for plotting murder!). Furthermore, I don’t understand why all the focus is on Lydia Dube alone. It wasn’t her who started this cult, it was Erlo Stegen. While this is not an excuse for her evil behaviour, the original perpetrator should be named as well, otherwise it looks like misogyny and racism.