By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The leader of a faction within the multimillion-rand International Pentecost Holiness Church (IPHC), Mike Sandlana has been denied bail on Monday on charges of corruption and money laundering.
He appeared at the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Monday.
Sandlana (64) is accused of bribing high court judge Portia Phahlane to deliver a favourable judgment in a succession dispute involving three men in the wealthy church.
Phahlane’s son Kagiso was also arrested and was granted bail with his mother.
The state opposed Sandlana’s release on bail, citing many reasons, including that he would intimidate witnesses, and presented to the court that he had fraudulent identity documents.
Magistrate Nica Setshogoe ruled that Sandlana failed to prove exceptional circumstances warranting his release, dismissing his claims of life-threating medical conditions.
Setshogoe’s ruling means Sandlana will remain in custody until his next appearance on March 6, 2026.
The IPHC, said to be the second-biggest church in South Africa, has been engulfed in a bitter three-way conflict to succeed Bishop Glayton Modise, who died in February 2016 after leading the popular church he had inherited from his father and the founder, Frederick Samuel Modise in 1998.
Bishop Glayton Modise left a vast estate worth almost R400 million. He died without a valid will and a clear succession plan for the popular church, throwing the congregation and his family into a feisty legal tussle.
Three main contenders emerged, vying to take over the reins of the church – Glayton Modise’s two sons Frederick Leonard Goitsemang and Tshepiso, squaring between each other and a third contender, Michael Sandlana who is often reported as as Bishop Glayton Modise’s son out of wedlock.
Leonard Modise leads the IPHC group in Zuurbekom, while Sandlana leads the Pretoria faction, and Tshepiso runs the third splinter group.