ZCC members in near fist fight
Lebogang Mosikare | Wednesday June 28, 2017 17:06
The ‘abominable’ incident happened on Saturday morning at the church’s Aerodrome branch and was caused by the decision of the church leadership to merge branches in Botswana. According to media reports, the decision to merge the church branches was reached in March at Palapye.
A letter from Moria dated April 7, 2017, confirms that the decision was reached in Palapye on March 11, 2017. It read that the church accepted the suggestion by pastors and the Zion Christian Church Consensus Building and Mediation Team (CBMT) to merge the ZCC branches in Botswana, according to media reports. When Mmegi arrived at the scene on Saturday, minutes after the argument had dissipated, members of the two feuding factions could be seen standing outside the church premises that were locked.
There was also heavy police presence at the church. The police were called to enforce law and order and to calm tempers following the alleged melee.
According to ZCC members who spoke to this publication on condition of anonymity, the refusal to relocate to Block 1 and cease all church activities at Aerodrome caused the skirmish. The Church members who spoke to Mmegi said that members who supported the idea to close the Aerodrome branch came and started dismantling buildings, a move which did not go down well with the faction that uses the Aerodrome for worship. It is said that members of the faction that is against relocation to Block 1 did not take that kindly, which nearly developed into a scuffle before the police were called to monitor the situation.
A woman who stays near the church, Mosetsana Ramotswiri witnessed the incident. She said the disagreement over the merger nearly escalated into a full-blown brawl between church members in support of the relocation and those opposing the decision to relocate. Ramotswiri said members of the church factions pushed and shoved their colleagues.
Said Ramotswiri: “Church members who are pro-relocation angered their colleagues who are anti-the relocation to Block 1 by dismantling various structures of the place of worship before loading them into cars for hauling to Block 1.
“This angered their Aerodrome colleagues who plainly told them that the material they were taking apart was not church property and was not bought by money from Bishop Barnabas Lekganyane.” Philip Morake, assistant superintendent of Tatitown police confirmed the incident.
He said although the situation was nearly volatile, the worshippers did not fight.
Morake said the incident happened after some church members were sent by pastors from the Block 1 branch to demolish structures at the Aerodrome branch to pave way for all church activities to cease being undertaken there. Their fellow church members who are using Aerodrome, Morake said, opposed the order to demolish the church’s structures and subsequently move to Block 1 for worship.
Morake said the police were called to monitor the situation in case it got out of control.