Times Of Swaziland: CHIEF BANS NEW CHURCHES

CHIEF BANS NEW CHURCHES
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  BY BONGUMUSA DLAMINI on 20/03/2017 07:26:00


MBABANE – Opening of new churches may soon become a difficult project in some
parts of the country.
In fact, Lushikishini leadership has since banned the opening or building of
churches in the area and Ezulwini is looking at imposing same though an official
position is yet to be taken.
There has been a major conflict in various communities as residents have been
informed that opening or building of new churches has since been banned.
At Lushikishini, currently operating churches are still going to be investigated
and should any of them not meet the requirements, they will be forced to close.
The leadership of Lushikishini said the main reason for banning the opening of
new churches in the constituency was because they were of the view that people
were using the churches as a business.
They said people were enriching themselves and making money using the Word of
God. They also complained about the increasing number of churches as some use
classrooms, school halls and tents to hold their sermons.
Chief Somtsewu Motsa from Lushikishini announced the recent development to the
residents during the unveiling of the new traditional structures of the
constituency.
The Constituency Headman Mhlonipheni Msibi confirmed the matter and explained
that they were not against the preaching of the Word of God but their main worry
was people misusing this to make money out of it. He said some church members
break away from their original churches after disagreements resulting in the
other party forming a different church.
Msibi highlighted that they recently had a problem with people who were not from
the community but came to their constituency and requested to open churches.
“This becomes a challenge for us because we do not even know the backgrounds
of some of these people or where they come from,” he explained.
He said they were working on proposing that all church leaders must have
permitted reference letters with a clear background of the individual who leads
the church. The headman also complained about the way some churches preached
different gospels, especially when it came to culture. For instance, he said
some pastors normally convinced the residents that there were no ancestors,
which meant that they were criticising Swazi culture and tradition.
Meanwhile, Abraham Bhembe, the Constituency Headman of Lobamba Inkhundla, said
this was something they were looking into but they were still going to summon
the residents and discuss the matter with them.
He said he did not wish to unveil more details yet.
“However, we are now confused by the increase in the number of churches in the
constituency,” he said. Bhembe explained that the land was now misused in
communities and the reason was that people were aware that no one was paying
attention to the proper use of land. He said for a church to operate fully, it
must be investigated, including its leadership because in some instances ‘we
engage unknown pastors to lead the churches only to find that they are after
money, not to preach the Word of God’.