“Forgive us for our sins… Our sins… And wash us with the blood of Jesus Christ‚” he would say.

Three of the pastor’s victims shared their torment and pain at the hands of the pastor at a dialogue hosted by the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural‚ Religious and Linguistic (CRL) Communities on Thursday.

The group was holding a discussion with survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of religious leaders and traditional healers. The victims told their stories in the hope that others who were abused in the same way would seek help.

They described living as if under a spell‚ afraid that they would die if they went against the pastor's wishes.

They likened the man of the cloth to Jesus Christ.

Whenever he had had sex with one of many young women in KwaZulu-Natal‚ the pastor would make a lengthy prayer to God for forgiveness.

“He prayed and I was soon to find out that this was the daily prayer he would make: ‘Forgive us for our sins… Our sins… And wash us with the blood of Jesus Christ’‚” said Nonhlanhla*.

She was just 13 years old and enthusiastic about church and singing when she joined the pastor’s congregation.