A former leader of the African Methodist Church has made a second case of fraud against a bishop he accused of defrauding the church of R50 million.
Reverend Jo-Andre van Schalkwyk, 51, of Athlone, laid the new charge this week after learning his pension fund, which he’s been contributing for 27 years, would only be paying out R1 100.
And he believes Bishop David Daniels, a Liberian national, is to blame.
“I contributed to this fund all the years and have been paying over R100 a month. What happened to the funds?” he asks.
Van Schalkwyk previously accused Davids, the leader of the AME church in southern Africa, of stealing millions from the church.
He resigned from AME a year ago due to his bishop’s alleged “shady dealings” and formed his own church a few months ago.
According to Davids, the Bishop allegedly received millions of dollars in funding from their mother church in America, but did not declare it to the South African government.
“The bishop is involved with tax evasion, money laundering and racketeering. We are talking about big money, R50 million,” Van Schalkwyk alleges.
Now he says he’s become a victim of fraud himself.
DENIAL: AME Bishop David Daniels
“The pension payout was supposed to be R1.7 million at the age of retirement, 65,” he explains.
“But after 27 years, I heard from the company last week that there is only a R1100 for me. I’ve been waiting for more than a year for the church to release the funds.
“The bishop, as head of the church, is responsible for this. I believe the fund was mismanaged.
“That is why I went to Bellville-South Police Station last week and opened a case of fraud.
“How can the funds be so little after all these years?”
But Bishop Daniels says he has nothing to do with his church’s pension fund.
“I am not even in charge of that, it is [an outside] company that deals with that,” he told the Daily Voice.
Daniels also said he was “disappointed, humiliated and sad” at his former protege’s actions.
“That young man I made a senior member of the church, I promoted him. I would never have dreamed he would do this to me now.
He added: “People do not believe I stole R50 million and the records can be checked.”
Police spokesperson, Constable Noloyiso Rwexana confirmed the new case.