Report calls for regulation of religious practices
The Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Cultural Religious and Linguistic Communities has expressed concern over the financial abuse of worshippers by religious leaders.
The commission launched a probe into the commercialisation of religion, following several controversial incidents at churches around the country.
South Africans have done it all to demonstrate their faith - from eating grass and snakes to being sprayed by Doom.
The commission interviewed more than 85 religious leaders, including traditional healers.
The report revealed how some people are expected to pay for prayers and possible tax evasion by religious leaders.
"We discovered that in the book it is presented as donations. So, when I buy a bottle of water for R30, it's like I'm donating - it's no longer like I'm running a shop in the church. If they are running a shop in the church, we feel there must be something that has to do with the South African Revenue Service," says the commission's Thoko Mkhwanazi Xaluva.
Xaluva says to stop the abuse of people's beliefs, the religious sector needs to be strongly regulated.
"We find that especially the elderly are prone to not taking their normal chronic medication for diabetes, high blood pressure etc. and they take fake products. The normal thing then happens when they don't take their medication - they die. We've received several complaints about this."