R1m goes missing from church - #SHOCKED

ONE of the oldest churches in the country has been rocked by a scandal involving more than R1-million, which was allegedly stolen by officials.

An internal audit team found that about R1,2-million went missing from the coffers of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa in Atteridgeville, west of Pretoria.

This took place during renovations of the church and Tshwane Building in 2010.

The theft resulted in the dismissal of Reverend Lameck Luthuli because his rubber stamp was used to authorise inflated payments to contractors an to make unauthorised payments.

Angry congregants said the matter was serious and called on the church authorities to open a criminal case and force those found guilty to repay the money. They also demanded the immediate reinstatement of Luthuli pending the outcome of the investigations.

A tender of R698,000 by Tirisano Mmogo was accepted but the final invoice was inflated by 39%, bringing the amount to R969,000.

Church treasurer Portia Mashilo signed for the payments and also used Luthuli's rubber stamp signature.

The audit team said Luthuli denied any knowledge of the payments, saying the rubber stamp and church letterheads were "unofficially used as the said letter was not even typed by the sectional secretary but by the treasurer herself".

Before the completion of work on the church Tirisano Mmogo said it had no capacity to do the work at Tshwane Building and was not asked to refund the outstanding money.

Instead Mashilo and church member Johnny Sithole appointed Fikabefile Management Services to refurbish the Tshwane Building.

The company was paid R290,000 two months before it submitted a quote. It also added VAT to the invoice, though it was not registered.

The work, initially supposed to cost the church R698,000, ended up costing it R1,939,500.

The audit team concluded that "rules and procedures of general acceptable accounting practices have been dismally violated."

Limpopo Bishop Gavin Taylor said the allegations had not yet been tested. Asked if Luthuli's removal was linked to the missing funds, he said it was for "different conflicts. It is very complex".

• NOW THE WORLD IS COMING TO AN END!!