Nigerian Pastor Timothy Omotoso was acquitted of several charges of sexual assault in April 2025. (Photo: Gallo Images) Home Affairs will waive the five-year ban on Nigerian evangelist Pastor Timothy Omotoso if the National Prosecuting Authority is successful in its attempt to appeal against his acquittal on sexual offences charges, Minister of Justice Mmamoloko Kubayi has said in a written answer to Parliament.
Omotoso was declared an undesirable person in South Africa and banned for five years in May 2025, and then left the country of his own accord.
This followed his acquittal after a seven-year trial on multiple counts of sexual assault and human trafficking.
Omotoso was declared a prohibited person on two grounds: overstaying his visa and entering the country on a false permit.
In the meantime, he has also been flagged by the Special Investigating Unit in its investigation into corruption at the Department of Home Affairs.
The report made damning findings against Omotoso, including that he had used fraud and misrepresentation to gain entry into, and subsequent residence in, South Africa.
“His initial entry was secured through a fraudulently obtained work permit, issued in a country where he was not a citizen, based on an unauthorised directive. This pattern of deception continued as he consistently provided conflicting information about his travel history and residency, submitted affidavits claiming lost documents to avoid producing verified credentials, and used the initial fraudulent permit to support subsequent, more permanent, immigration applications,” the report states.
“As his status was repeatedly questioned, his method evolved to exploit administrative and procedural vulnerabilities within Home Affairs. When his visa renewal was denied for non-compliance with regulations, he sought to bypass these requirements by petitioning for a ministerial waiver.
“The investigation revealed that this waiver was unlawfully granted by an official without the necessary delegated authority, highlighting a strategy of leveraging administrative gaps to override lawful rejections and perpetuate his stay in the country,” the SIU found.
Kubayi confirmed that the National Prosecuting Authority has filed a petition with the Supreme Court of Appeal for permission to appeal against Omotoso’s acquittal on the human trafficking and sexual assault charges in February.
The complainants in the matter were members of Omotoso’s Jesus Dominion International Church. At the time, the trial judge, Judge Irma Schoeman, found that while she believed the complainants, the State had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt, also by failing to provide evidence before the court, backing up their testimonies.
“The legal team representing the Director of Public Prosecutions, Eastern Cape, filed a petition to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in February 2026,” Kubayi said in her answer. She explained that this petition would empower the prosecution team to request that the Supreme Court of Appeal decide on a question of law – the only basis under South African law on which the State can appeal against an acquittal.
She said if successful, the Department of Home Affairs had committed to waiving the undesirability status of Omotoso for the NPA to apply for his extradition.
According to information provided to Parliament by Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber, Omotoso entered South Africa on a work visa, which expired in 2017. He never applied for a renewal of his visa and was in the country illegally when he was declared an undesirable person.
He also used temporary residence visas, suspected to be fraudulent, Schreiber said. DM