St John court succession battle ends
Lebogang Mosikare | Tuesday February 20, 2024 10:21
The succession saga ended on Friday when Justice Gaolapelwe Ketlogetswe ruled in favour of the plaintiff, St John, directing the installation of Melittah Ndubano, the late Archbishop’s daughter, as the successor. The defendant was ordered to cover the plaintiff’s costs.
Sources close to the succession dispute revealed that one of Ndubano's close relatives and another church member based in Maun were also vying for leadership. The opposing faction planned elections on February 26 to choose the church leader. The leadership conflict at St John is perplexing given that, according to the minutes of the executive committee meeting on July 4, 2020, at the church’s headquarters in Francistown, Archbishop Andrew had informed the committee of his poor health and expressed his conclusion that his daughter Melittah (Ndubano) should succeed him.
He urged cooperation and appealed for no fights within the committee. In his ruling, Ketlogetswe pointed out that the defendant claimed the plaintiff had not been appointed as Archbishop in line with the church's constitution. However, the minutes of the executive committee made no mention of any issues regarding Ndubano's appointment.
The committee was unanimous in its decision.
The court ordered the defendant's application to file its plea out of time to be struck out, with costs on a party and party scale. “I make the following orders (a) the defendant’s application to file its plea out of time he and is hereby struck out as not being properly before court with costs on party and party scale (b) an order is hereby made that Melittah Ndubano was lawfully appointed as the archbishop of the St John Apostolic Faith Mission of Botswana (c) the defendant be and is hereby directed to install the plaintiff into the position of archbishop of St John Apostolic Faith Mission of Botswana...,” Ketlogetswe said.
The ruling affirmed that Ndubano was lawfully appointed as Archbishop and the defendant was directed to install her into the position. Following the judgment, Deputy Archbishop Titus Makosha stated that the church has over 80 branches in Botswana with thousands of members.
The estate of St John is believed to be valued in millions of pula, a factor that seemingly fuelled the leadership dispute. “We don’t hold grudges against anyone who laid claim to the leadership of St John. That is why we kept our succession battle low profile. “We only want peace, unity, and reconciliation in our church then move forward,” Makosha said when asked about potential grudges against other congregants claiming leadership. Ndubano was represented by attorney Morgan Moseki, while Jeremia Attorneys represented St John.