Bishop Zondo's legal battle: Accusations of rape and the quest for acquittal

IOL News

26-05-2025

Bishop Bafana Stephen Zondo, who is facing rape charges in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, lost his application for recusal of the judge, based on claims that the judge is biased against him.
Image: Oupa Mokoena / Independent Newspapers
It has been months since the State closed its case against Rivers of Living Waters Church leader Bishop Bafana Stephen Zondo, but rather than proceeding with his defence against the 10 mostly rape charges against him, Zondo is using all the legal avenues open to him to avoid this.
When it was his turn to present his defence and to decide whether to take the witness stand or not, he chose to ask for his acquittal as he argued that at this point, the State did not prove that he had a case to answer to.
According to him, the evidence against him presented by the seven rape accusers was weak. Gauteng High Court, Pretoria Judge Papi Mosopa, however, in March turned down his application and said at this point, Zondo did have a case to answer to.
In hitting back, Zondo's legal team, headed by Advocate Piet Pistorius, has asked for the judge to recuse himself. But Judge Mosopa yet again shot this application down as he found the recusal application to be without merit.
If the application was granted, it would have meant that the trial had to start from scratch and that the witnesses who had testified over more than four years would have had to do so yet again, before a different judge.
Zondo is, however, set on taking matters further, as he, through Pistorius, indicated that he is set on appealing the judge's refusal to recuse himself. The case was postponed to June 13, when Zondo will launch a leave to appeal application.
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It is expected that if this application also fails, Zondo and his team will turn to the Supreme Court of Appeal to ask for leave to appeal.
In his earlier application for recusal of the judge hearing his trial in which he is accused of raping members of his church, he claimed that Judge Mosopa is biased and had already made up his mind about his guilt.
Pistorius argued that in the eyes of the reasonable observer, it is clear that the judge is unable to decide the matter impartially. According to his argument, Judge Mosopa made findings at this stage of the trial - only after hearing the evidence of the State witnesses - which he should have made at the end of the trial.
'The only reasonable conclusion is that Judge Mosopa believes that Mr Zondo is guilty of the crimes… That alone disqualifies this judge from further participation in this trial,' Pistorius said.
Prosecutor Jennifer Cronje, in opposing the application, argued that the judge never made any credibility findings against Zondo. He simply pointed out that at this stage of the trial, the witnesses delivered credible evidence, to which Zondo must answer.