ZCC constitution is a fraud
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Following an application by some Zion Christian Church (ZCC) members in Botswana challenging the church’s disregard and violation of its own constitution, another member who sits on the church’s lawyers’ panel launched a fresh application this week challenging that the 2009 Botswana constitution is fraudulent.
“The applicants have instituted legal proceedings against ZCC relying on the 2009 constitution that is not operational or not in use and as such the said constitution does not govern the affairs of ZCC in Botswana. I will further pray for the Honourable court to declare the said constitution null and void and of no force and effect,” Jost Sinvula Isaac who is a member and lawyer of ZCC declared in court papers the Weekend Post is in possession of.
Prior, 11 members of the church being Tshiamo Tladi, Khumo Gaorengwe, Mogomotsi Bogosi, Stanley Lejone, Daniel Mathibe, Lesetse Othamo, Mmusi Moeng, Mmatli Lopale, Lebogang Bose, Faneck Bareki and Tony Joseph last week dragged the church together with its Bishop Dr. Barnabas Edward Lekganyane to court saying the ZCC local branch is flouting on its constitution of 2009 – which is currently the subject of the “storm”.
Isaac, who sits in the ZCC attorneys’ panel instituted a fresh application this week as a member of the church and argued that the submission of the 2009 constitution by ZCC to the Registrar of Societies was not necessary as the church had a South African church constitution that was in use since 1994.
He said: “it is my humble submission that the 1994 constitution is the lawful and operational constitution of the ZCC church in Botswana as it has never been repealed or invalidated by any lawful process.”
Accordingly, he emphasized that the “2009 Botswana constitution is illegal, unlawful and a nullity in law and of no force and effect”.
When supporting his arguments the lawyer said there are new facts which he intends to bring before court, which have not been brought forth by any of the parties in the 11 members versus ZCC, Bishop Lekganyane, pending before the court. He added that he discovered the facts after thorough research, making inquiries and perusing the church file at the Registrar of Societies.
Sometimes in the early 1990’s, he explained, the church applied for registration of its constitution and “exemption” from registration under the Societies Act. The exemption was then approved and they were issued with an exemption certificate. In applying for exemption, he said the church filed its constitution from South Africa, which was received by the Registrar of Societies on the 5th July 1994.
“The church was thus confirmed as a society exempted from registration in terms of the Act and that it was headquartered and controlled outside the country (South Africa), with a universal constitution that applied to all its members and was registered accordingly.”
A perusal of the church file at the Registrar of Societies’ office reveals that sometimes there was a misconception on the part of officials of the church as to its registration status in Botswana.
Indications are that at some stage the church engaged the Office of the President (OP) to have the church exempted from registration, when in fact the church was ‘already’ exempted from registration.
Therefore, the ZCC member stated further that it seems that the confusion that resulted in the registration of the 2009 constitution began with a public announcement that was made by the Registrar of Societies in 2008.
In terms of that notice, all churches which were registered using the constitutions of their ‘mother churches based outside the country’ were now required to file ‘local’ constitutions and a deadline was set for that purpose.
“This request was not made in terms of any provisions of the Societies Act. I must add that this public announcement was not addressed to the ZCC. While the legal propriety of this notice was itself questionable, it was nonetheless not necessary for the church to concern itself with the notice as it was an exempted society which had a constitution in place.”
Other churches that are exempted such as the Roman Catholic Church did not concern themselves with the notice and they did not file local constitutions.
In the end, the ZCC lawyer said a local constitution was developed and on June 2009, the 2009 constitution was submitted to the Registrar of Societies.
He pointed out that the registration status of the church is a matter that has not been ventilated at all by all the parties to the main application (11 ZCC members) “yet it is at the centre of the controversy in these proceedings”.
According to Isaac, “when this 2009 constitution was submitted, what was overlooked is the fact that the church had a constitution that was in use and further that it was exempted from registration, and that under no circumstances could the church be required to submit local constitution.”
He added that the filing of the 2009 constitution therefore would have resulted in the Exemption of the church being rescinded or cancelled since the preamble of the said constitution states that the church is constituted in terms of Section 5 of the Societies Act.
“When the 2009 constitution was filed with the Registrar of Societies, the church awaited response from the Registrar’s office in relation to the registration of such constitution but to date there is no such response and my understanding is that in the absence of any meaningful response the said constitution was never formally registered for it to be effective.”
The ZCC member also expressed that he is greatly aggrieved by the 2009 constitution because it creates a different ZCC than the church itself. “The church will effectively have two parallel seemingly distinct constitutions since the 2009 constitution did not repeal the 1994 constitution nor was it registered.”
The constitution does not make any reference to the status of the church as an exempted society, suggesting that it was submitted under a misapprehension of facts as to the registration status of the church, he highlighted.
In the 2009 constitution, it is stated that: “the headquarters of the church is said to be Lot 20462, Gaborone. This has never been the headquarters of the church. To the best of my knowledge, the headquarters of the church is Zion city Moria in Limpopo Province of South Africa,” the lawyer clarified.
The Executive Council is entrusted with powers that have hitherto been the preserve of the Church Council, and the 2009 constitution as it is if adopted will hinder the smooth running of the church in Botswana, he highlighted.
“I therefore intend to raise arguments questioning the validity of this 2009 constitution. The proceedings will have to involve the Registrar of Societies, through the Attorney General.”
“I have raised these issues with the church. In particular I have raised the issue of invalidity of the 2009 constitution with the General Secretary of the church as well as lawyers panel of the church,” he added.
However, Isaac said his pleas for the church to raise these issues have not been headed to. “I understand this to be because the members of the lawyers’ panel directly responsible for this case hold views that are different from mine,” he stated. “To my understanding the church has therefore not been advised to raise these issues in the manner I seek to raise them. I respect this divergent of views, and now ask this court to give me a hearing.”
“As a member of the church, which is a very big international church, and further as an official of the church where the applicants (11 members) in the main action worship, I have an interest in ensuring that the church is governed properly and I consider the raising of these issues to be my responsibility and duty.”
Going forward, he observed that a decision on this matter will also clear any confusion to the registration status of ZCC, the constitution that is in use and the responsibilities of the church in terms of the Societies Act.
Isaac’s new application citing the Botswana church constitution as “a fraud” will be argued still before Justice Michael Mothobi on 19th August 2016 and it will determine whether the previous matter on violation of the local church constitution falls off or not.
In the 11 members’ case, ZCC was represented by Advocates Soraya Skhassim (SC) and Lenette Pillay from South Africa and Uyapo Ndadi of Ndadi Law Firm in Botswana sat in for the aggrieved 11 ZCC members while in the fresh application due in August, attorney Jost Sinvula Isaac represented himself.
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ENVIRONMENT ISSUES: Masisi asks Virginia for help
President Mokgweetsi Masisi says the issue of sustainable natural resources management has always been an important part of Botswana’s national development agenda.
Masisi was speaking this week on the occasion of a public lecture at Virginia Polytechnic, under theme, “Merging Conservation, Democracy and Sustainable Development in Botswana.”
Botswana, according to Masisi, holds the view that the environment is fragile and as such, must be managed and given the utmost protection to enable the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“It is necessary that we engage one another in the interchange of ideas, perspectives, visualizations of social futures, and considerations of possible strategies and courses of action for sustainable development,” said Masisi.
On the other hand, dialogue, in the form of rigorous democratic discourse among stakeholders presents another basis for reconfiguring how people act on their environments, with a view to conserving its resources that “we require to meet our socio-economic development needs on a sustainable basis,” Masisi told attendees at the public lecture.
He said government has a keen interest in understanding the epidemiology and ecology of diseases of both domestic and wild animals. “It is our national interest to forestall the dire consequences of animal diseases on our communities livelihoods.”
President Masisi hoped that both Botswana and Virginia could help each other in curbing contagious diseases of wildlife.
“We believe that Virginia Tech can reasonably share their experiences, research insights and advances in veterinary sciences and medicines, to help us build capacity for knowledge creation and improve efforts of managing and containing contagious diseases of wildlife. The ground is fertile for entering into such a mutually beneficial partnership.”
When explaining environmental issues further, Masisi said efforts of conservation and sustainable development might at times be hampered by the emergence and recurrence of diseases when pathogens mutate and take host of more than one species.
“Water pollution also kills aquatic life, such as fish, which is one of humanity’s much deserved sources of food. In this regard, One Health Approach imposes ecological responsibility upon all of us to care for the environment and the bio-diversity therein.”
He said the production and use of animal vaccines is an important space and tool for conservation, particularly to deal with trans-border animal diseases.
“In Botswana, our 43-year-old national premier pharmaceutical institution called Botswana Vaccine Institute has played its role well. Through its successful production of highly efficacious Foot and Mouth vaccines, the country is able to contain this disease as well as supply vaccines to other countries in the sub-region.:
He has however declared that there is need for more help, saying “We need more capacitation to deal with and contain other types of microbial that affect both animals and human health.”
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Masisi saddened by deaths of elephant attacks
President Mokgweetsi Masisi has expressed a strong worry over elephants killing people in Botswana. When speaking in Virginia this week, Masisi said it is unfortunate that Batswana have paid a price with their own blood through being attacked by elephants.
“Communities also suffer unimaginable economic losses yearly when their crops are eaten by the elephants. In spite of such incidents of human-elephant conflict, our people embrace living together with the animals. They fully understand wildlife conservation and its economic benefits in tourism.”
In 2018, Nthobogang Samokwase’s father was attacked by an elephant when travelling from the fields, where he stayed during the cropping season.
It was reported that the man couldn’t run because of his age. He was found trampled by the elephant and was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.
In the same year, in Maun, a 57-year-old British woman was attacked by an elephant at Boro and died upon arrival at the hospital. The woman was with her Motswana partner, and were walking dogs in the evening.
Last month, a Durban woman named Carly Marshall survived an elephant attack while on holiday in the bush in Botswana. She was stabbed by one of the elephant’s tucks through the chest and was left with bruises. Marshall also suffered several fractured ribs from the ordeal.
President Masisi Botswana has the largest population of African elephants in the world, totaling more than 130 000. “This has been possible due to progressive conservation policies, partnerships with the communities, and investment in wildlife management programmes.”
In order to benefit further from wildlife, Masisi indicated that government has re-introduced controlled hunting in 2019 after a four-year pause. “The re-introduction of hunting was done in an open, transparent and democratic way, giving the communities an opportunity to air their views. The funds from the sale of hunting quota goes towards community development and elephant conservation.”
He stressed that for conservation to succeed, the local people must be involved and derive benefits from the natural resources within their localities.
“There must be open and transparent consultations which involve all sectors of the society. It is against this backdrop that as a country, we lead the continent on merging conservation, democracy and sustainable development.”
Masisi stated that Botswana is open to collaborative opportunities, “particularly with identifiable partners such as Virginia Tech, in other essential areas such as conservation, and the study of the interplay among the ecology of diseases of wild animals and plants, and their effects on human health and socio-economic development.”
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Gov’t commit to injecting more funds in fighting HIV
Minister for State President Kabo Morwaeng says government will continue to make resources available in terms of financial allocations and human capital to ensure that Botswana achieves the ideal of eradicating HIV and AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
Morwaeng was speaking this morning in Gaborone at the High-Level Advocacy event to accelerate HIV Prevention in Botswana. He said the National AIDS and Health Promotion Agency (NAPHA), in partnership with UNAIDS, UN agencies, the Global Fund and PEPFAR, have started a process of developing transition readiness plan for sustainability of HIV prevention and treatment programmes.
“It is important for us, as a country that has had a fair share of donor support in the response to an epidemic such as HIV and AIDS, to look beyond the period when the level of assistance would have reduced, or ceased, thus calling for domestic financing for all areas which were on donor support.”
Morwaeng said this is important as the such a plan will guarantee that all the gains accrued from the response with donor support will be sustained until the end when “we reach the elimination of HIV and AIDS as a public health threat by 20230,” he said.
“I commit to continue support efforts towards strengthened HIV prevention, accentuating HIV primary prevention and treatment as prevention towards Zero New Infections, Zero Stigma, Discrimination and Zero AIDS related death, to end AIDS in Botswana.”
He reiterated that government commits to tackle legislative, policy and programming challenges that act as barriers to the achievement of the goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat.
In the financial year 2022/2023, a total of 119 Civil Society Organizations, including Faith Based Organizations, were contracted with an amount of P100 million to implement HIV and NCDs prevention activities throughout the country, and the money was drawn from the Consolidated Fund.
Through an upcoming HIV Prevention Symposium, technical stakeholders will use outcomes to develop the Botswana HIV Prevention Acceleration Road Map for 2023-2025.
Morwaeng stated that government will support and ensure that Botswana plays its part achieving the road map. He said there is need to put hands on the deck to ensure that Botswana sustains progress made so far in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
“There are tremendous achievements thus far to, reach and surpass the UNAIDS fast track targets of 95%- 95%- 95% by the year 2025. As reflected by the BAIS preliminary results of 2021, we now stand at 95- 98- 98 against the set targets.”
“These achievements challenge us to now shift our gears and strive to know who are the remaining 5% for those aware of their HIV status, 2% of enrolment on treatment by those aware of their status and 2% of viral suppression by those on treatment.”
Explaining this further, Morwaeng said shift in gears should extend to coming up with robust strategies of determining where these remaining people are as well as how they will be reached with the necessary services.
“These are just some of the many variables that are required to ensure that as a country, we are well positioned to reaching the last mile of our country’s response to the HIV and AIDS pandemic.”