20 Aug 2017

Kgalagadi District Council chairperson Mr Justice Nkwane has applauded Organisation of African Instituted Churches (OAIC) Botswana Chapter for the establishment of Records Management Classification Scheme.

He said the establishment of the Records Management Classification Scheme would go a long way in ensuring that churches were governed well noting that record keeping will act as a guide to churches on how to handle amongst others finances.

During the opening of OAIC- Botswana Chapter annual general conference in Maubelo recently, Councillor Nkwane said churches had not been doing well in terms of record keeping as some were not keeping records at all.

Mr Nkwane further commended OAIC - Botswana Chapter for its continued participation in observing General Elections.

“I have realised that OAIC- Botswana Chapter has played a positive role in the country by educating and encouraging church members to exercise their right to vote during general elections.

OAIC - Botswana Chapter has always taken part in observing elections since 2004,” he said.

He further said OAIC- Botswana Chapter assists in mediating in times of conflicts, bringing churches together and researching on indigenous church to know more about their history and beliefs.
 

Furthermore, Nkwane said the church was a place of peace building hence there was a need to see churches transforming the nation and assisting Government in coming up with programmes that will elevate poverty.

He said he was pleased that OAIC - Botswana Chapter had a poverty eradication sub -committee that was geared towards assisting government address issues of sustainable development goals.

Mr Nkwane pointed out that a church was an entity that needs people who were elected to run its affairs with accountability and good governance doing it with vigor and respect to the rule of law and every member in church.

“It has come to light that more often the executive committee, Arch Bishop and Bishop fight each other for the day to day running of the church.

This power struggle to command the church sometimes brings sad news and this confusion can be attributed to not being conversant to with each other’s responsibilities,” he said.Nkwane adviced that church constitutions should accommodate women to be elected to higher position of clergy and it should not discriminate.

“No position should be reserved for men only. We are created by God and all the skills men have women also possess. Women should be appointed Arch Bishop, Bishop, Prophetess and Chairperson of the Executive.

I have observed that women are given position of Secretary, Treasurer and even after they collect the money, men take and utilise that money which is a wrong practice in the eyes of the Lord, therefore I advocate for that to change,” he said.

Mr Nkwane warned church leadership against reaping church coffers, which were meant to drive the development of the church for their own personal gain and enrichment.

He said many spiritual pastors, and bishops established churches with good aims and objectives but later after registering they bypassed the constitution.

He said government was worried that some churches were not complying to the Societies Act by not submitting annual returns. He noted that this hampered the daily running of the church resulting in bad reputation.

For his part, OAIC - Botswana Chapter president, Bishop Tebogo Motlhagodi said that the role of the church in spearheading development was critical in ending hunger and poverty.

“We should mobilise church leaders at all levels so that they can play a prophetic role in amplifying the voices of the farmers on critical issues such as allocation of budgets to agriculture, expansion of extension services and demanding for concrete public policy response to climate change,” he explained. ENDS