Penuel Mnguni, a preacher in South Africa who allegedly ordered his congregation to consume live snakes has been arrested on animal cruelty charges. Controversy ensued after pictures of the congregation eating snakes were posted on the church’s Facebook page last week.
The controversial preacher, who heads End Times Disciples Ministries in Soshanguve, north of Pretoria, told his congregation the snakes would taste like chocolate. He is to appear in the Ga-Rankuwa Magistrate’s Court today, 20th of July, 2015 to face animal cruelty charges brought by the Society for Prevention of Cruelty Against Animals.
“We are conducting a preliminary inquiry with an intention of opening a criminal case against him (Mnguni),” said Mishack Matlou‚ a society inspector. “What we saw in the pictures is cruel. Imagine being eaten alive! This has to stop,” he said.Mnguni has also been the subject of controversy in the past when he made his followers eat hair and rags, claiming God has the power to make a person eat anything and that his teachings were based on the scripture.
At another occasion, Mnguni said he learned his extreme teachings from Rev. Lesego Daniel of Rabboni Ministries, who forced his congregation to eat grass and drink petrol. The End of Time Disciples Ministries has about 100 to 150 followers and is inside a small tent in a poor area.