�ZCC Constitution Is Fake Document�
Mpho Mokwape | Monday August 22, 2016 15:58
Josta Isaac a lawyer, and a member of the church lawyers panel said the ongoing legal wars between some local church members and its leader, Bishop Barbanas Lekganyane would not be resolved soon unless the standing of the constitution was addressed.
The eleven members who are part of the Tlokweng praise and worship team ‘Mokhukhu’ have for a very long time been entangled in a legal battle with their leader Lekganyane. They have among other things accused him of violating the church constitution and intimidating members especially when they are at Moria.
The members on Friday appeared before the Gaborone High Court Judge, Michael Mothobi to argue their grievances only to be hijacked by Isaac who reckons he has more information to help the court to finally put the matters to rest.
Through his lawyer Isaac who is also vice secretary for local executive committee at the Tlokweng branch has maintained that the 2009 constitution used by the local church was not legit and should not be used.
He wanted to be joined as an impartial adviser into the proceedings to help the court with points of law regarding the matter especially since the issues had been raised using the constitution.
Isaac explained that once joined he would bring to light that the 2009 constitution was unlawful and therefore it should be declared null and void.
“I will only be appearing as the friend of the court as both the litigants and the court may not be aware that the current constitution does not govern the affairs of the local church and that many constitutions are at the Registrar of Societies,” he argued.
Isaac argued that the eleven applicants should have not relied on July 16, 2009 constitution against the Bishop since it had no basis and therefore illegal. He said the submission of the 2009 constitution by the local ZCC to the Registrar was not necessary as the church had a constitution that was in use since 1994.
“The 1994 constitution is the lawful and operational constitution of the local church as it has never been repealed or invalidated by any lawful process. Accordingly the 2009 one is illegal, unlawful and a nullity in law,” he said.
Isaac emphasized that the registration status of the church was a matter that had not been ventilated at all by the parties before court yet it was at the centre of the controversy in the proceedings.
He explained that when the 2009 constitution was submitted, what was overlooked was the fact that the church had a constitution that was in use and was exempted from registration.= Isaac argued that he was aggrieved by the 2009 constitution on the basis that it created a different ZCC than the church itself because among others the church would effectively have two parallel seemingly distinct constitutions since the current one did not repeal the 1994 one nor was it registered.
However the applicants together with Lekganyane objected to Isaac’s application on grounds that he wanted to hijack the proceedings for his own personal agenda.
They argued that he was just an aggrieved man who wanted to settle personal scores since he was not listened to when he raised the issue with the lawyers panel, now he wanted to use the court to settle that.
The applicants who are represented by Uyapo Ndadi and the Bishop’s advocates said Isaac’s application be dismissed with costs as it had no basis and that he did not raise any new points regarding the case.
Judgment was reserved to September 9.