admin“When Jesus cast demons and drove them into a herd of pigs, in Matthew Chapter 8, no one was baptised in that water because it was unclean. What these heathens want us to do is mix up with all the unclean spirits that inhabit beerhalls. It is unacceptable. We would rather remain in the bush in Pumula.”
Madzibaba Joshua of 12 Disciples Apostolic Church said councillors were being mischievous.
“This has to rank as the silliest decision of all time. Either councillors were misquoted or they were being mischievous. How can you expect society to take you seriously when you commune with God at such a place? These people need serious prayers. We will pray hard for their salvation,” he said.
An open-air worshipper from Entumbane, who declined to be named, said councillors should have been drunk when they made the decision.
“Surely they were drunk, if not they have gone insane. This decision is unworkable. Our church does not allow us to congregate under a roof or within the imprisonment of walls. We do everything in the open because we have nothing to hide. We can never mix with the demons at beerhalls. Councillors want to use these demons to destroy our faith and bring Satanism to Bulawayo,” said the worshipper.
Pastor Zivanai Chituwa of Rugare Apostolic Church said the beerhalls were few and churches so many that they would end up being crowded.
“We might end up fighting among ourselves as we compete to hear each other. Yikho okucina kuphuma imikhuleko emibi khonapho,” said Pastor Chituwa of Gwabalanda suburb.
Contacted for comment, Bulawayo’s Mayor, Councillor Thaba Moyo said the churches had nothing to fear at the beerhalls if they were “real” Christians.
“If they are real Christians, they should go where there are demons and cleanse the place. Their fear of so-called demons at beerhalls shows that they could be false worshippers,” said Clr Moyo.
He said councillors made the decision to help open air churches, rather than persecute them, as the churches seemed to believe.
“Anyway, the places are called beerhalls, because they were once used as such. Now the beer and the benches that were used by patrons are no longer there. If the churches use the place, we can avoid diseases that are caused by people relieving themselves in the bush, and avoid confrontations between them and council rangers mandated to keep them away from the bush,” he said.
Clr Moyo urged churches to work with council in solving the problem of open air churches, saying Bulawayo was relatively unscathed by the cholera epidemic that swept through the country in 2008, because it had been firm on open air worshippers.
The war between open-air churches and council has been raging for years.
The local authority launched a blitz on open-air churches, saying they went against Section 27 (b) of the Protection of Land and Natural Resources Act of 1975.
Despite municipal police arresting about 30 people every month over the issue, the churches continue to sprout around the city.
The council has even threatened to enlist the help of riot police to overcome defiance by the worshippers.
Sidumisile Mabena
Online Reporter