Evangelical Fellowship may sue Bakgatla leaders

MONKAGEDI GAOTLHOBOGWE
Staff Writer | Friday April 23, 2010 00:00

In a hard-hitting letter published in this paper, the organisation says it 'reserves [its] rights in law' while it calls on the government to reign in Bakgatla tribal leaders.   The letter follows the flogging of pastors of the Family of God church and  and subsequent closure of the church in Mochudi.  The EFB says the government must act swiftly and, ' ensure that there is a difference between law enforcement officers and tribal regiments who have become a law unto themselves.'

' We call upon instruments of the law, such as police to guard meetings of potential conflict and exercise their authority for the citizens of this country to freely gather and worship', the EFB says in a statement released yesterday.

The religious body has even warned that much of the conflicts in Africa are due to tribes that took it upon themselves not to be part of a national culture, which created emotive issues on the basis of cultural preservation, to the detriment of national unity and development. 'If this is the trend then our peace and democratic values in Botswana are indeed at risk', said EFB president pastor Biggie Butale.

He siad it is strange that the pastors were flogged in the bush, without regard for due process of the law and their church banned in similar fashion.bush.

Even more worrisome is the fact that  other evangelical churches in Mochudi have also reported harassment and disturbances during their worship meetings.

The churches, he said, have been commanded not to use their public address systems and musical instruments in their worship, while at the same time bars and other traditional churches are not hindered in the noise that they produce. Butale says that the directives by the tribal authority ignore the legal and lawful permits issued at the kgotla and by the Kgatleng District Council bye-law offices. ' Such discrimination is unacceptable and we reject it outright.

We beg to ask if there are some people who are above the laws of this land, who can do and act as they please with impunity, because their tribal practices and unwritten laws take precedence over the laws of the Republic of Botswana...?'

' We call on the government of Botswana, the Christian and Religious communities in this land and Batswana as a whole to take note and bear witness to our statement in solidarity',  He says.

' Whereas the constitution of Botswana grants us freedom of gathering lawfully, and freedom of worship to the God of choice and in the style of choice, this right has been blatantly and forcefully infringed upon in Mochudi by regiments of the Bakgatla chieftainship and two pastors were lashed at night in the bush after a failed attempt to seize their equipment without their consent and due process of the law', Butale, who is also a lawyer by training said. He said his organisation reserved its rights in law, which means the orgnisation may consider taking its grievances to court should it become necessary.