Minister Meets Faith-Based Organisations
Staff Writer | Tuesday October 3, 2017 18:02
The three organisations or councils oversee member churches in Botswana.
The purpose of the meeting was to give feedback on progress made, since the last meeting in 2012, as regards the involvement of the church in the development of the country and as an advisory body to government. The minister thanked the councils for the meeting and shared with them the main issues discussed in the last meeting held in 2012.
When giving welcome remarks, permanent secretary Banny Molosiwa informed the gathering that the minister wanted to meet the organisations, after the creation of the Ministry of Nationality Immigration and Gender Affairs.
She emphasised the fact that the meeting was to get the church’s view on the Botswana society and matters that affect it.
The previous meeting involved several stakeholders amongst them; Criminal Intelligence Department (CID); Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC); Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA); Department of Waste Management in the then Ministry of Lands and Housing; Gender Affairs Department and Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services (DIS).
The issues that had been agreed upon in the previous meeting were poor governance in churches; proliferation of churches; code of conduct in the church; capacity-building of church leadership; gender equality; establishment of a Religious Bodies Council; tax evasion by churches; environmental issues; weak church constitutions; marriages of convenience; qualifications for pastors as well as appointment of chaplains in different institutions to help build and maintain morals amongst Batswana.
Batshu further pointed out that the Botswana Constitution allows for freedom of worship therefore religious organisations are allowed to associate freely.
The minister also informed the meeting that the government recognises the church as having an important role, hence its representation in important forums like Vision 2036.
On the progress made by his ministry, Batshu shared that the threshold for registering churches had been changed to 150 as per the amendment of the Act; amendment of the Married Persons’ Property Act; requirement that Batswana should be in the majority in the church leadership; strict monitoring of churches as regards their compliance to laws and regulations; the establishment of the Advisory and Arbitration Council and the provision of guidelines on the drawing up of church constitutions.
Pastors are to get a work and residence permit as opposed to them being given exemption.
Public education on operations of churches is done through Kgotla meetings and several workshops have been held.
The ministry has since registered 39 churches after the implementation of the new threshold.
Areas of concern raised were, amongst others: the increasing number of disputes arising within churches; questionable financial transactions by churches; money laundering and human trafficking.
The churches’ umbrella body representatives observed that the definition of ‘freedom of worship’ and ‘tolerance’ in the Botswana Constitution, may need to be revisited as it seems like these days they are being abused; and that pre-marital counselling should be compulsory in order to curb high divorce rates.
The church should define the type of marriage to adopt and further interrogate polygamy in the context of churches and its impact or justice to contractors in case of divorce; look into the review of the Children’s Act as regards their rights and obligations with a view to protecting them, given the prevalent substance abuse in schools and the fact that marriage officers should have requisite qualifications.
Reverend Mpho Moruakgomo in closing thanked the minister for the meeting and implored the church to be proactive and have its voice heard on issues that concern Batswana.