04 Feb 2022

Faith based organisations have called for establishment of a chamber of faith, which will act as an advisory body on issues of religion.

Making submissions to the Presidential Commission of Enquiry on the Review of the Constitution on behalf of the organisations, Mankgodi Minister’s Fraternal secretary, Pastor Kaizer Lesetedi said it was critical that the constitution should recognise the role played by faith based organisation in the development of the country.

The establishment of the house of faith, he said would function similar to Ntlo ya Dikgosi as pastors would have a platform to discuss issues of national interest as set out in the constitution.

He also suggested that the faith sector should have a representative in Parliament who would its advocate and ensure formulation of policies representing their interests/concerns.

Mr Lesetedi also called for pastoral service recognition. He argued that pastors were only recognised during difficult times.

For example, he said, during the pandemic, pastors were instrumental in providing psychosocial support and counselling to some members of the community. He suggested that pastoral services should now come with a fee as appreciation for the service.

Pastoring, he said was a profession just like any other, hence their call for it to be appreciated and recognised by the constitution. Additionally, he suggested that there should be a comprehensive model used to request pastoral services so that all religious institutions could equally benefit.

Mr Lesetedi raised concern about allocation of land to churches arguing that currently, they were competing with liquor outlets as far as land allocation was concerned. The constitution, he said, should explicitly protect religious institutions from competing with businesses.

He complained that religious institutions were allocated land far away from people while bottle stores and bars were brought into the village.

“Seemo se se a tshwenya ga re a tshwanela go phadisanya le dibara ka gore kereke e aga setshaba mme dibara tsone di rotloetsa botlhokatsebe jwa bana” meaning that was worrisome as the church encouraged nation building while liquor outlets were a stimulus for young people’s wayward behaviour.

Mankgodi Farmers committee chairperson, Mr Keemanao Pule called for the constitution to support farmers to ensure food security.

Farmers, he said, were committed to providing food to the country, but poor roads, and lack of electricity and water in farms frustrated their efforts.

He said facilitating infrastructure development for farmers would enable them to increase production. Thus he called for recognition of this aspect by the constitution.

Mankgankwe Group chairperson, Mr Peter Mntande suggested that ministers and their assistants should be hired on contract basis so that MPs could focus on their constituencies.

He also argued that relevant authorities should engage communities within territories when conducting delimitation exercises.

Some individuals were also given the opportunity to present as only three of eleven groups that registered turned up.

Mr George Thabeng suggested that there should be equity in chieftainship, noting that currently, it seemed like men were the only ones entitled to bogosi.

He said in other countries, women were equally entitled to chieftainship and proposed that the constitution should give women equal recognition. ENDS