Africa-Press – Eswatini. With no clear policy in place, churches are left to self-regulate, some with questionable results.
This will soon be a thing of the past, as the Ministry of Home Affairs has promised to fact track the implementation of a church policy. The policy will regulate church operations and further prevent the occurrence of unorthodox practices in churches. The Ministry of Home Affairs Communications Officer, Mlandvo Dlamini, said they were busy with the policy that would ensure that churches were registered and regulated by the ministry.
According to Dlamini, currently churches registered under the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade, with some citing a number of challenges with the registration. He explained that churches complained about registering under the Companies Act, yet the Ministry of Home Affairs had a mandate of looking after church operations. Dlamini stated that the Minister, Princess Lindiwe, saw it prudent to establish a policy as guided by the country’s laws, to look after the churches in terms of regulation and operations. “Through the policy, we will get to know all the churches in the country, where they are located and further assess their establishment purpose. The first basis point is on the mushrooming churches and the different kind of unorthodox practices occurring in churches,” Dlamini said. Adding, Dlamini said they would not dwell much on the spiritual aspect, as the country was also guided by religion, as received by King Somhlolo. “As a ministry, it is not our wish to involve ourselves in the spirituality part but we will focus on the churches registration and operations,” he said.
Challenges
He acknowledged that as a ministry, they had challenges on addressing issues happening within the churches because of the absence of the policy, which must guide how they should approach issues happening in churches and also discipline a person, if the need arises. “Once the policy is in place, we will be able to work as per the policy, so that people are protected when they worship in churches,” Dlamini stated. He said people had the right to gather and listen to the Word of God, and not to be exposed to situations which may also endanger their lives. Dlamini mentioned that each and every church must also report to a certain body for guidance.
In terms of actions to be taken when a church breaches the policy, he said they would be guided by the extensive consultations they would engage in, with all relevant stakeholders. Dlamini said the stakeholders submissions would act as a guide on which direction the policy should take. “During the consultations, we will take all the people’s submissions and include them in the policy. If they say we must close the churches which have mushroomed and are operating in one rooms, these will be their views and as a ministry we will implement them,” he said. The Minister, Princess Lindiwe, speaking during her introductory meeting to the ministry’s staff on Monday, promised to prioritise the enactment of all pending Bills. She said some of the pending bills included the Immigration Bill, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) Bill and the church policy. The minister stated that the Bills were close to her heart and she would make it a point that they were finalised.
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