03 Dec 2013

The Minister of Labour and Home Affairs has applauded the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) for its compliance with the country’s laws and statutes.

Mr Edwin Batshu said this during the official opening of Botswana Adventist Gospel Singers (BAGS) forum music retreat in Selebi Phikwe Secondary School recently. He said as a registered entity, the church regularly submitted annual returns to the Registrar of Societies.

He said this was so because the church engaged competent members to run its affairs and challenged the other faith institutions to copy the same

Mr Batshu said government was concerned with the mushrooming of churches though the country has a small population.
He said it was not clear why churches breakaway but however said it was not a common phenomenon among mainline churches, adding that government appreciated the role played by religious groups.

The SDA he said has contributed meaningfully to the development of the country as demonstrated by its participation in assisting the less privileged people as well as helping government in areas such as literature, medical care and healthy diet.

Mr Batshu appealed to churches to fill the gap where government might not have adequately covered such as provision of recreational facilities to the community, adding that churches should also attract more people to address social ills such as abuse of drugs and alcohol, domestic violence and moral decadence

Concerning the 13th music retreat that attracted several SDA choirs he said as Africans, music constituted a greater part of their lives, sang in times of happiness and sorrow. Mr Batshu said in Christianity music formed part of the Christian journey and urged choir members to use their talents well to improve their lives.

The minister advised that Batswana should not take for granted the peace and tranquility that prevailed but should continue to safeguard it.

He said advised the choirs to also utilise constituency arts competitions to further enhance their talents and to make music part of their daily lives. But he was concerned that choirs have many women than men which he said was a challenge that the church has to address.

“If there is collaboration between men and women social ills such as gender based violence, high number of males in prisons can be reduced”, he said.
Chairperson of BAGS Mr Clifford Matsoga, said the music retreat was held during the World AIDS day commemoration, to remember those who succumbed to HIV/AIDS.

The retreat was attended by speaker of National Assembly and BAGS patron Dr Margret Nasha who appealed to Mr Batshu to make a request to Cabinet that general elections be held on Fridays rather than Saturdays to allow Adventists to cast their vote.

Dr Nasha said it was pleasing to see more politicians being Christians saying it could bring stability. Ends