A rural court in South Africa will today hand down judgment in the case of a self-styled prophet who sprayed insecticide into the face of his followers to drive out demons.
The preacher has been ordered to stop spraying the substance with the brand name Doom.
Headline writers had a field day and Lethebo Rabalago landed trouble when a video showing him spraying members of his church with the insecticide, went viral.
The case was drawn out so long by the prosecution seeking chemical analysis of the insecticide that it was in danger of collapsing.
Appearing in the Mookgopong Magistrate’s Court in Limpopo Province,
Rabalago faces seven counts, including five of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.
The Limpopo Health Department obtained a high court interdict in 2016 banning him from using the substance on humans.
His trial in the Mookgopong magistrate’s court relates to charges laid by the Limpopo Department of Agriculture under an Act that prohibits the use of any agricultural remedy for purposes not intended for.
Five community members have also laid assault charges against the so called Prophet of Doom after they were allegedly sprayed with insecticide without consent by Rabalogo at his Mount Zion General Assembly Church.
His trial started with testimony by a representative of the manufacturer of Doom, South Africa’s largest food company Tigerbrands.
Judgment day for prophet of Doom
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Jean-Jacques Cornish is a journalist and broadcaster who has been involved in the media all his adult life.
Starting as a reporter on his hometown newspaper, he moved briefly to then Rhodesia before returning to South Africa to become a parliamentary correspondent with the South African Press Association. He was sent to London as Sapa’s London editor and also served as special correspondent to the United Nations. He joined the then Argus group in London as political correspondent.
Returning to South Africa after 12 years abroad, he was assistant editor on the Pretoria News for a decade before becoming editor of the Star and SA Times for five years.
Since 1999 he’s been an independent journalist writing and broadcasting – mainly about Africa – for Talk Radio 702 and 567 Cape
Talk, Radio France International, PressTV, Radio Live New Zealand, Business Day, Mail & Guardian, the BBC, Agence France Press,
Business in Africa, Leadership, India Today, the South African Institute for International Affairs and the Institute for Security Studies.
He has hosted current affairs talk shows on Talk Radio 702 and 567 Cape Talk. He appears as an African affairs pundit on SABC Africa and CNBC Africa.
He lectured in contemporary studies to journalism students at the Tshwane University of Technology and the University of Pretoria.
He speaks on African affairs to corporate and other audiences.
He has been officially invited as a journalist to more than 30 countries. He was the winner of the 2007 SADC award for radio journalism.
He’s been a member of the EISA team observing elections in Somaliland, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Egypt and Tunsiai.
In October 2009 he headed a group of 39 African journalists to the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Peoples’ Republic of China.
In January 2010 he joined a rescue and paramedical team to earthquake struck Haiti.
He is immediate past president of the Alliance Francaise of Pretoria.
Jean-Jacques is a director of Giant Media. The company was given access to Nelson Mandela in his retirement years until 2009.
He is co-producer of the hour-long documentary Mandela at 90 that was broadcast on BBC in January 2009.
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