The KwaMhlanga Regional Court in Mpumalanga sentenced a 46-year-old Good Shepherd Church pastor to 55 years imprisonment after he was convicted of four counts of rape and seven counts of sexual assault of his congregational youth members from 2012 to 2018 on Friday.

John Philane Masilela portrayed himself as a prophet of God and the pastor of Good Shepherd Church in Suncity KwaMhlanga. Mpumalanga NPA Spokesperson Monica Nyuswa said that Masilela would pray for his victims by touching and fiddling with their private parts, under the pretext of preventing them from leading immoral lives. "He told the victims that he could see their future and had received instructions from God to pray for them in that manner. He also told them that if they refused, bad things would happen to them. The accused pleaded not guilty and claimed consent," she said. Regional Court prosecutor, Bianca Harmse led testimonies of seven victims who told the court how Masilela would quote scriptures from the Bible and claim that for them to be protected from being with the wrong woman, he needed to pray for their private parts by touching or sucking them. "Some of the victims even broke down and became emotional when testifying. The state submitted that the accused abused his power, as a pastor and used the victim's faith in God and religion to break down any resistance they showed, to sexually violate them for his lustful pleasures," she said.

Magistrate, Merlene Greyvenstein found the accused to be a sexual predator amongst the youth of his congregation. "She found the accused to be a blatant liar who told his victims that bad things would happen to them should they not comply with his instructions. The court found his acts to be disgusting and that he claimed to be a Christian, yet he saw no wrongdoing in touching or sucking their penises to prevent them from immoral acts. A pre-sentence report detailing that the victims were impacted emotionally by their ordeal was presented in court.

"The accused was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on each of the four counts of rape, and 5 years imprisonment on each of the 7 counts of sexual assault. The court ordered that four of the sexual assault sentences run concurrently with the rape charges, relating to the same victims. The accused was also declared unfit to possess a firearm," she said.