TARGETED: Gibora Sibanda
Church war turns foul
An on-going bitter row over funds that rocked the Francistown Johan Church of God recently has culminated in disgruntled members dumping soiled toilets in a Gaborone church member’s yard last week.
Gibora Sibanda, 54, got the shock of her life when three angry church members emptied the foul smelling contents of two mobile toilets in her yard in Gaborone West last Friday.
Apparently caught in the crossfire of a war that hit the headlines when accusations of corruption and mismanagement of church funds sparked a fight that injured many and damaged property, Sibanda said she suspected the target was not her but her tenant, Dambe Mibisani who was vocal on the sensitive subject.
Visibly disgusted by the foul act of protest she said: “They are my church mates. Our men are fighting over money and the war has now arrived right at my doorstep.”
She further told The Voice that the three men, Naphtary, Joe and Rameki who brought the toilets in a Dyna truck, broke her gate down to empty two portable Daisy Loo toilets without saying a word to her. The trio who are relatives to the committee members accused of embezzling money, refused to comment on the matter.
OPEN LOO: What the congregation was left to use as a toilet
At the centre of the controversy is the alleged mismanagement of church contributions that according to some concerned members runs into hundreds of thousands of pula, disgruntled elders have claimed.
David Murima, a concerned pastor revealed in an interview that the church has become ungovernable and that some people like Mbisani were being persecuted for raising legitimate questions.
“The issue started in 2005 when we wanted an audited financial report. Since then anybody who raises the question of an audit is either suspended or threatened with dismissal,” Murima claimed.
He said there were over 300 church members who were demanding answers over embezzlement accusations, but the Executive Committee led by a church elder called Themba Zakhile has resorted to issuing suspension letters to anybody who raised a dissenting voice.
“All we are told is that we paid BURS a substantial amount of money, and that we still owe P100 000 in taxes, but there is no paperwork to substantiate that,” said Murima.
FOUL ATTACK: Mobile toilets dumped in church mate’s yard
The young pastor who has been served with a suspension letter claimed that on a weekly basis the church collects about P3000, but since its formation in 1974 they are still worshipping in a tin shack.
“Why is it a hard thing to account to the members on how their money has been used?” he asked.
Efforts to reach both Zikhale and his Vice Chairperson Shadi Muratsi were unsuccessful as their mobile phones were off while the treasurer Moses Moyo’s phone rang unanswered. Mbisani too couldn’t be reached for a comment as he had travelled to Zimbabwe at the time. Gaborone West Police Station Commander, Bonnie Bareki confirmed the strange incident in a telephone interview on Wednesday.
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This issue ya madi a kereke a go bolelwang a jwewa ke yone e satane a e dirisang go thuba dikereke, so emang sentle le se sekinyege.
kereke tse gotwen tsa mowa tse,di re feleditse madi.o utlwa gotwe re ntshe ditsalesome ko go e ke e tsenang ebile bone ba di beela tlhwatlhwa le dikoleke tse dintsi,go tsweng foo,fa o batla go itse ko madi a ileng teng o sa bone phetogo epe e lo neng lo e kolekela gatwe o thuba kereke.dikereke tse di tlhoka go direlwa merapelo Ke bo Assemblies ka bone ba itse se ba se batlelang madi
its just bussines stop been cheated by these people just pray at your home and go to a bar chesa nyama ,tata ama tombezana.
thats manure. lema di-cabbage o ba rekisetse
The Voice le ruta bana go rogana?Imagine a kid in grocery store trying to impress his mum by reading your headline out loud.
Waits mo ke mehlolo ,ka nnete lefatshe le ya bokhutlon .dikereke tse dingw ke mathata!
kante lona ga le utlwe maina a batho ba le baruti ba teng gore ke a kae?maybe baa adimile ntate mugabisto.
nyaa tota metlholo le gale ka malatsi a mo di kerekeng ga twe re kolekele baruti ke mathata fela a ba tshelane
This is totally beyond disgusting thes pple are cursed……..
Ele gore ramapodisi wa G west did he go on to arrest batho ba ba dirileng jaana. This is a public health issue, mantle a kana aya go tsenya bana mala a ba bolaya. I hope this police followed this up and brought these people before the law.
Kana le nna kereke e ke kopang dithapelo ko go yone e rile ke botsa ka di akhaounte ka batla go bolawa ke batho. Bare bone mo kerekeng ya bone they don’t do akhaounts they trust each other. Gatwe ke tlisa saatane mo kerekeng.
This group should be investigated if others are being investigated why are they allowed to go about their nonsense
The Voice, Headline ya lone ke matlhabisa-ditlhong! Mind your language pls.
E kereke ntwa ya yone ga e na go fela jeno. Ke bonye mabole a a neng a ntshiwa ka bona gore go maswe!
I never belived there are stanic churchs untill one day i was visiting my friends in Mmopane and they joked about taking me for a “walk to remember”so we sralled around untill we came somewere down to the end of the village ko bo phirima just after the main bus/taxi rank,we passed this Zezulo tribe in white sitting on the ground,woman on left and man on the right,i could not believe what i saw and heared,ba gogoba ka mangole mo mmung,ba inamisitse dithogo,and one would stand up and tell what they dreament about,and its only suppossed to be about snakes,dragons and all scary staff,they would clap so hard whistle in approval,i then asked what was it and my friends told be it was a church,still now i cant believe it,apparently the more you dream of those things is the more you are closer to their god,and you get promoted to some level in church,and then it was giving time/moneelo you are told how much has to be givin on that day because thats what the ‘god”,the man in green robes will keep on running into the bush come back,scream and woman will bow down” so when i saw the news on tv,i just laughed and said atlong last some one a bit of sence came to them,they are fraudsters,not pastors.