FORMER Minister (Pastor) of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa Reverend Daniel Rantle
Lekhetho Ntsukunyane
THE Court of Appeal has sealed the fate of former Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA) cleric, Reverend Daniel Rantle, by upholding the July 2016 High Court ruling restraining him from associating himself with the church.
Reverend Rantle was expelled from the church in 2006 for alleged misconduct but argued in court papers the disciplinary hearing that found him guilty was held in his absence as he had already left the church in 1998.
He however contended he joined the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (Proprietary) Limited Company, which looks after the church’s assets, as a member and minister.
But the church, the company, Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa Ziphozihle Daniel Siwa and Executive Secretary of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa Charmaine Morgan, sought the court’s intervention in restraining Reverend Rantle and two other individuals – Stephen Mapheelle and ’Malimpho Mary Phatela from using the church’s names, and church-related material and to refrain from associating themselves with the church’s company.
They accused Reverend Rantle of “passing himself as the Superintendent of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa and or Head of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (Proprietary) Limited and that his followers wear the same uniform as that of the first applicant and also the same logo”.
Reverend Rantle, Mr Mapheelle and Ms Phatela filed their appeal before the Court of Appeal after Acting High Court Judge Justice John ‘Musi ruled in favour of the church and against them in July this year.
When delivering their judgement, the three Court of Appeal acting judges, Justices Cleaver, Chinhengo and Griesel noted it was clear there had been a long-standing feud between the church and Reverend Rantle.
“He was ordained as a minister in the MCSA in Bloemfontein in 1990. After serving in QwaQwa and Botha Ville, he came to Lesotho, his home country, during January 1999, where he served as the Circuit Superintendent of the Maseru Circuit.”
However, the judges noted, a dispute arose between Reverend Rantle and the church and disciplinary proceedings were instituted against him in 2006, “which he failed to attend”.
As a result, the judges observed, Reverend Rantle was found guilty “in his absence” of misconduct and was “discontinued from ministry in the MCSA.”
The judges further noted ever since his expulsion, Reverend Rantle had led a break-away church in Lesotho, followed by some of the members of the MCSA, “and in vehement opposition to it”.
The judges noted with concern that the conflict between the church and Reverend Rantle had given rise to “wide-spread strife, including physical fights and bloodshed between his followers and members of the MCSA; to an incident of attempted kidnapping as well as alleged death threats”.
They said a plethora of court cases had been launched by the parties against each other over the past 10 years in both the civil and criminal courts in the country.
Further evidence led in court was that Reverend Rantle had initially referred to himself and his break-away church as the Methodist Church of Lesotho. But later, when he realised that he could not claim ownership of the assets of the MCSA in Lesotho, he portrayed himself as the leader of the MCSA.
“Presently, Rantle claims that he is the leader of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (Pty) Limited, in other words, he claims that the company is his church,” the judges noted.
However, the judges said they were accordingly satisfied that the High Court “was justified in rejecting Rantle’s version merely on papers. For these reasons, the appeal is dismissed with costs to be paid by the appellants jointly and severally.”