CHURCH BRIEFED ON LAW

Kgomotso Molelekeng | Monday February 17, 2014 16:24

 

The workshop for Gaborone churches was held at the University of Botswana (UB) library auditorium on Saturday. Although the turn up for the event was dismal, it was apparently due to lack of awareness.

Addressing the attendees, Linnet Mafukidze who runs a Christian law firm said there are laws that protect church board members.

She said, “This does not mean board members should use their position in the church for personal gain as this might place their home and assets at risk. Church members have been placed in a position of trust and they have legal fiduciary responsibility to place the church’s interests ahead of their own,”

She further added that embezzlement is an issue that is fast growing in a lot of churches regardless of how small the church is or its denomination and location. She said it does not take a hardened criminal to steal money from the church. She said the embezzlers are often well known, well liked and completely trusted by members of the church. 

“Church leaders need to identify the holes that allowed the problem to develop in the first place, as well as plug those holes and restore trust. Embezzlement can leave ripples of hurt and suspicion that need to be dealt with, in addition to the criminal implications of the act,” she said. 

Mafukidze also addressed the issue of ministries entering into contracts. She said that ministries have a significant opportunity to control risk when they enter into contracts. “Taking a proactive approach to managing legal risk when contracting helps the ministry leaders to be good stewards of the resources entrusted to them,” she said.

She added that ministry leaders should be familiar with the rights and responsibilities of the ministry and basic contract terminology.

Head of legal services department at Gaborone City Council Sono Sesa also addressed the church board members. He mentioned that local government’s township and district council acts are there to protect the public from harm.

Sesa also spoke about the new cemetery by-law that will soon be implemented whereby people will have the chance to make their burial decision before they die.

He said they have also received complaints from the public about church services that are held in homes.

“Churches are not supposed to be held at homes and if there is any church which is doing this, the law enables us to stop it with immediate effect,” he said.