04 Feb 2014

Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Mr Edwin Batshu has raised concern about marriages of convenience between locals and foreigners.

Speaking at the 50th Anniversary of Eleven Apostles Healing Spirit church in Francistown on February 1, Mr Batshu said pastoral marriage officers should be careful of such marriages in order to protect Batswana.

He noted that there were instances where foreigners married locals to either acquire citizenship or benefit from the property of the other spouse. The minister however, noted that there were some foreigners who married for the right reasons.

Mr Batshu, who is also Nkange MP, said his ministry was trying to curb marriages of convenience and would present bills aimed at addressing it in the coming sessions of parliament. On other issues, Mr Batshu commended Eleven Apostles Healing Spirit Church for gender balance in leadership positions.

He said although all were equal before the eyes of God, some churches still failed to appreciate that women could be given positions of responsibility. Francistown South MP, Mr Wynter Mmolotsi said churches were faced with a problem of lack of places of worship.

He called on Minister Batshu’s ministry and that of lands and housing to come up with ways to address the problem. Mr Mmolotsi urged the ministry to screen applications for new churches to curb massive registrations.

He called on the ministry to screen some foreign pastors, saying some of them milked locals of their hard earned cash. Bishop Modisaotsile Mothibi explained the church was formed in 1963 and had never splintered since its formation.

He said the church had circuits all over the country and had been engaged in compassionate activities such as donating clothes to Dukwi refugees, cash to SOS and building a house for a destitute family in Gumare. Mr Batshu and Mr Mmolotsi donated P1 200 and P1000.00 respectively to the church.  ENDS