Mbabane East MP Welcome Dlamini says only Jesus can regulate churches in the country.
The MP stated that he was aware that the ministry had concluded the policy, and asked what it was aimed at addressing. This was during the debate of the ministry of home affairs second quarter budget performance report in Parliament yesterday.
Dlamini asked who had the moral authority to regulate religion, stating that at Mandvulo Grand Hall last Saturday there was no one who had authority to regulate who was preaching there. There were people who were ordained while they were young and Jesus started preaching at a young age but could not be criticised or stopped from sharing the Gospel. Dlamini said no one on earth had the morality to tell people not to preach the Gospel.
He said they should stop regulating churches, but rather register them
Mhlambanyatsi MP Dr Bonginkhosi Dlamini said he was sometimes interpreted wrongly, but they had seen the challenges in churches. When leaders die, people then take each other to court because they want to take over the church.
He asked if there were fights in the church after Jesus died. He said the prevailing situation was degrading the church. Lobamba MP Michael Masilela said he could only share the phrase which says, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone,” on the issue of churches.
Somntongo MP Sandile Nxumalo said when the ministry works on the religious policy, they should consider that. He said the church cannot be censored by the State by aligning its teachings with the preferred narratives of government.
He did not think that they should take this stance, asking that the ministry should consider this when coming up with the policy. He said the church does not need a permit or surveillance, as people have the right to worship.
“We do not know who is going to heaven and who is not, and we should just not go there. There is freedom of association and freedom of assembly, as per the Constitution. People worship even in their sitting rooms and Christians are very quiet in this country. There is excommunication in churches, and we are asking that the policy should not be speaking about that,” he said.
Nxumalo added that churches have always been there and the challenges were not new. The churches always split and there was no big deal about that. He said forcing churches to register legally might be overlapping for government, as the church has freedoms.
“I once asked government to arrest those who were doing criminal acts and end there. What you are now doing is wrong. There are over 120 churches that are watching the exercise who want to make inputs that are not engaged. You might be doing this for certain individuals,” he said.
Chief Ngalonkhulu asked if the ministry was happy with what was happening in churches, especially because they are always taking each other to court. He said this was not good and the ministry should be engaging the church mother bodies on these issues. He wanted to know how far the ministry was on the religious policy.
Nkhaba MP Hope Shiba said the ministry should look into the issue of churches, as it appeared to be technical. He seconded the Mbabane East MP on the issue and stated that they should not cause challenges for Christians while they worship God.
In response, acting Minister of Home Affairs, Pholile Shakantu, said they would not be regulating the spiritual aspect of the church, but would concentrate on the administrative side of everything.
She said there was no right that permitted people to do as they please, stating that all freedoms had limitations. She said as much as people had the freedom to associate; they should exercise the freedoms within certain boundaries.
“The MPs were the ones who tasked the ministry to regulate churches. We are not regulating the spiritual side,” she reiterated.
