04 Jul 2022

Local church leaders will now be required to possess a basic education qualification in Theology, Registrar of Societies chief registration officer has said.

Ms Ofentse Gojamang explained during a stakeholder sensitisation workshop on Societies Act of 2022 on Thursday that those called to serve as church leaders should be in possession of at least a certificate in Theology.

Ms Gojamang encouraged the church to improve governance as  it was crucial in developing society.

“As churches, we do not even have a database of our members. Go and correct that,” she urged.

On the re-registration of societies as per the act, Ms Gojamang said the process had not yet started owing to formulation of regulations.

She said for re-registration to be effected, existing societies would not be required to produce 150 members. 

However that would be required  of new applicants.

She explained that the 150-member requirement  was a suggestion by church representatives who had in fact, suggested a 300-member threshold to curb proliferation of churches.

For his part, Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs deputy permanent secretary, Mr Motse Otlhabanye said the Societies Act was meant to curb issues of terrorism, money laundering and terrorism financing, which had become a global concern.

Mr Otlhabanye said Botswana did not exist in isolation hence there was need to adhere to international obligations.

He said  the country was in the past grey listed for its failure to alighn with international anti-terrorisms policies, hence ongoing work to close gaps 

Mr Otlhabanye said there were currently about 9 500 societies registered with the Registrar of Societies. 

He said however, that  some no longer existed, but the manual system used by the society could not detect them.

Participants complained about lack of consultation in the formulation of the act with some suggesting the church should have its own act and not be part of the Societies Act. Ends