adminA TEN-YEAR legal wrangle over control of the Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) of Portland Oregon (Southern African headquarters) has finally been put to rest after Harare High Court judge Justice Marry Zimba-Dube granted full control of the local chapter of the church and its assets to the US-based parent church.
The United States-based AFM of Portland Oregon had, since 2005, been locked in a dispute with its former local overseer Reverend Richard Sibanda and three board members Reverends Julius Matope, Jonah Manondo and Luther Mateza over control of the local chapter of the church after the latter had refused to be retired from his post in 2005.
After the fallout with the parent church, Rev Sibanda seized control of the local church and in 2006 through his lawyers, the now dissolved Cheda and Partners, obtained a provisional relief from the High Court to oppose his forced retirement and remain overseer of the church.
A legal battle ensued with the parent church this year making a High Court application seeking declaration to the effect that Rev Sibanda and the three board members were no longer members of the church and could no longer continue using church properties and its name.
In a judgment handed on 20 May this year in Harare, Justice Zimba-Dube ruled in favour of the parent church and ordered Rev Sibanda and the three board members to immediately relinquish possession and use of all movable and immovable properties of the church.
The respondents were also declared to be no longer members of the church and have lost fellowship under the church, barring them from using the church’s name or any such name which may reasonably be confused as the applicant’s name.
Through a writ of execution and ejectment issued on the same day as judgment, Justice Zimba-Dube also instructed the deputy sheriff to eject Rev Sibanda and the three board members from the church’s properties and repossess all movable assets of the church in the quartet’s possession.
Part of the properties that have been repossessed by the parent church inlcude Greengables farm, where there is Greengables High School over which the church has also been locked in a bitter dispute with a local businessman Mr Maxwell Shumba.
The dispute over control of the church started around 2004 over the existence of two choirs at the church a development that was brought about by differences over whether the church choir should wear a uniform and dress in a particular manner.
This led to members of the local chapter writing to the parent church seeking direction on the matter, to which the parent church led by Superintendent General Darrel Lee responded by ordering the two choirs to merge in the spirit of unity.
This directive did not go down well with Rev Sibanda who at the time was the overseer of the local church and he wrote to the main church expressing his intention to resign if the matter was not resolved to his liking. Rev Sibanda went on to defy the parent church’s directive and the parent church decided to retire him.
When the parent church sent Rev Dwight Baltzell to put in place a retirement plan for Rev Sibanda, the latter mobilised members of the church and barred Rev Baltzell from carrying out his task and went on to institute legal action against the parent church leadership.
Rev Sibanda was dismissed as overseer in April 2005 for disobedience and taking church matters to court in contravention of the church’s constitution and Rev Onias Gumbo was appointed in his place but again the beleaguered cleric defied the dismissal and remained at the helm of the church.
The dismissed cleric responded by obtaining a provisional relief from the courts which would allow him to remain as overseer of the local chapter of the church in 2006. He obtained a similar relief in 2008 as he held on to the helm of the local church.
In 2011 the head of the parent church Rev Darrel Lee visited the country and Rev Sibanda barred him from accessing church properties and again the matter spilled to the courts but the parties agreed for an out of court settlement.
Despite the truce, Rev Sibanda went on to issue summons for the eviction of pastors he did not agree with from church properties and he appointed new pastors.
This development led to further tension between the warring parties and in 2012 the parent church suspended Rev Sibanda from being a member of the church for breaching the cannons of the church and violating spiritual doctrines by continuously taking church matters to court.
In 2014 Rev Sibanda issued summons to the head of the parent church seeking to nullify his suspension and the appointment of Rev Gumbo in his place, prompting the parent church to make a counter court application.
In making the ruling in favour of the parent church, Justice Zimba-Dube noted that an act of rebellion against a parent church was an act of rebellion against its branch, hence Rev Sibanda had no basis to remain at the helm of the local branch of the church.
He also noted the respondents in a letter dated 3 February 2012 had also denunciated the leadership of the American church and attempted to secede from the parent church, an act the judge said was tantamount to expelling oneself from the church.
In an almost similar case in 2012, ex-communicated Anglican bishop Nolbert Kunonga lost a six-year battle to hang onto church property, after the Supreme Court ruled against his appeals as he purported to pull the Diocese of Harare out of the mother church in an alleged row over the ordination of gay bishops.
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