MP slams ‘false churches’

The Swapo chief whip in the National Assembly, Evelyn !Nawases-Taeyele, says the rate at which “false churches” are mushrooming and taking advantage of Namibians is alarming and disturbing.
Speaking in parliament this week, !Nawases-Taeyele said these churches were taking advantage of people and their desperate need for spiritual, economic and emotional relief. She also called upon government to save the nation by regulating the activities of some churches, which boast with “self-imposed, self-appointed, anointed and ordained leaders”. She said: “…it is notable that some of these fake churches appear to target areas predominantly populated by inexperienced and uninformed members of our society.” The ruling party’s chief whip added that it is hard to resist the conclusion that some churches deliberately target ignorant communities who will not question their “unethical” behaviour. “It is clear that some of the new sects have no sense of direction, because their primary focus is money. These churches have worrisomely become money-centred and this has been widely reflected in their sermons,” she said. To illustrate this, she related how a wheelchair-bound woman incurred serious injuries after a faith healer told her to discard her braces and get up because she was healed. “Unfortunately her cancer of the spine had weakened her bones, and the activity caused bones in her spine to collapse. As a result she died not long after. The faith-healing accelerated her death and caused her unnecessary pain,” said !Nawases-Taeyele. She also accused these churches for misleading people that they can be healed from illnesses such as HIV/Aids. “People believe they are instantly healed and do not seek professional medical advice from a doctor and in doing so, fail to seek timely medical care,” she said.

JEMIMA BEUKES