“I Used To Believe in Him”: Mzansi Reacts to Pastor Who Used Witchcraft To Fill His Church

• Pastor Makhado Ramabulana ran a church in Soshanguve and has now spent years warning South Africans about practices he says are common in charismatic churches
• Ramabulana testified before a government commission in 2020 and wrote a book detailing the rituals he performed across Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Mozambique to gain power
• Former members of his Soshanguve congregation recognised him in the resurfaced video and said they once believed in him completely before the truth came out

A Mzansi pastor previously came clean about travelling across Africa to collect dark powers and then using them on his own congregation at a church in Soshanguve, Pretoria.

Pastor Makhado Ramabulana, who ran the Elshaddai Tabernacle Centre in Soshanguve, east of Pretoria, made the confession in an interview that resurfaced on TikTok on 5 March 2026. The clip was posted by user @karabonkhuna26. The original interview is roughly six years old.

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How a trained pastor ended up chasing occult power across Africa

Ramabulana was born in Polokwane into a family of pastors. He studied theology at the Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa Theological Institute and was properly ordained. But when his pews stayed empty while other churches were packed, he went looking for an edge.

That search took him to a number of African countries. He was initiated into what he describes as a secret society. He came back carrying a pig’s head, which he buried inside the church. The people who gave it to him told him that as the head rotted, the worms crawling out would represent new members walking in. Within weeks, the church was full.

The man who has since turned his back on all of it

Ramabulana appeared before the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities on 16 November 2020, where he testified. He has also written a book called Church Mafia: Captured by Secret Powers, in which he documents his journey across Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and the DRC, and the rituals he performed in each country.

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He has since left the occult entirely. He now serves as a pastor at the Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa in Sebokeng in the Vaal. He also spends his time warning other pastors and churchgoers about the practices he says are common behind closed doors in charismatic churches.

Watch the TikTok clip below:

Mzansi reacts to the confession

@King Kgomotso23 said:

“That’s why I don’t go to church. 😭”

@thanks asked:

“What made him finally give out their secret?”

@riri commented:

“How did he get out without being killed?🤔 He is not revealing everything. 🙄”

@Keo Segale 🏡🇿🇦📍🇰🇷 highlighted:

“I used to attend his church. I would get sleep paralysis every time I came from church.😒”

@Phumoo_Nsindane🇿🇦📍🇿🇦🌹 said:

“So it’s dangerous to go to these churches? Yoh!”

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Source: Briefly News