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Once a year, at a popular church in Khayelitsha in Cape Town, male congregants reportedly line up and each one walks around a group of blushing single women, picks one of his choice and takes her as his wife.
Each new couple then walks hand in hand towards the pulpit, where the pastor is waiting to quiz them on the seriousness of their actions before they join other pairs who are waiting for the pastor’s blessings.
The Shekainah Healing Ministries was trending this week after video footage of its head pastor, Apostle Musa Mohlala, seemingly leading a matchmaking church service, surfaced on social media.
Speaking to City Press on Friday, Mohlala’s spokesperson Elvis Ka Nyelenzi said the footage was not a church episode of “finding mjolo”, but a ceremony to bless couples who intend to unite forever in holy matrimony.
“I am the one who takes pictures for the church. That is an event we do each year, this being the fifth time we have hosted it.
“Half of our church members are married because the pastor invites everyone to participate on the day by asking beforehand who wants to get married and then tells them to go and buy traditional attire and come wearing them on the day of the event.
Ka Nyelenzi said:
Even though the viral video footage only surfaced online this week, the church service happened on June 22.
“The purpose of the event is for our members who want to get married and don’t have the money to do so to immediately stand before the congregation and get prayed for, so that one day, when they are ready, they can start with the marriage path, including lobola.
“It is a spiritual event and people need to believe in the actions that will follow. We have many testimonies from here where people are still married even today, from standing in front of the pastor with their partners and being prayed for.
“Some people who [have been] courting for a while also come forward and stand before the pastor with their partners and get prayed for.”
Ka Nyelenzi said the process of choosing a partner does not happen on the day, and no one picks a stranger to marry during the church service.
“You can’t just pick someone in front of the congregation. It is a process. You can’t just do that in front of the church before you go through their family or pay lobola. They come to the church as a faithful step to go public.”
Shekainah Healing Ministries, which has been operating for 20 years, is one the biggest churches in Cape Town and is attended by more than 8 000 congregants.
“People from outside our church attend that event in big numbers because who does not want to get married? Even people who already have boyfriends come to attend the service, knowing that they will leave church with great hope that they will get married soon ... About 90% of our church is married because of efforts from this event.”
