29 Mar 2015

Residents of Tonota have appreciated the Societies Amendment Bill, which Parliament passed recently.



 One of the residents, Mr Joseph Montsho said in a kgotla meeting addressed by the Minister of Labour and Home Affairs Mr Edwin Batshu on March 26 that the bill would regulate churches.



He noted that the bill would address the issues of foreign preachers who allegedly ran churches and extorted money from vulnerable citizens.



Mr Montsho, however, raised a concern that some of Tonota churches were worshiping in the rivers, adding that activities carried out there by the churches polluted the environment.

 He further said he understood that there was freedom of worship in Botswana, but with regards to the bill, he wondered how the government was going to monitor the churches.

Another resident, Mr Lesego Machoko, said looking at the registered numbers of churches, which stood at 1 913 and waiting to be allocated plots to worship, there was need for government to regulate them. Mr Machoko said mushrooming of churches was worrisome coupled with the issue of shortage of land and wondered where new churches were going to find land.

He said mobilisation of churches under the three was going to be a threat to the society and the nation at large. In response, Minister Batshu said that the bill proposed that the threshold required to register a church be increased from 10 to 250 people with the aim of curbing the high number of mushrooming churches.

He said amendments to the proposed bill have since reduced the numbers from 250 people to 150 people. Minister Batshu stated that there was no how they could stop people from worshipping, adding that the government was going to establish an Advisory Arbitration Council (AAC) that would address conflicts of churches.

In his welcome remarks, Kgosi Pogiso Sekoko of Tonota also appreciated the bill and urged residents to take births and deaths registration seriously. ENDS