Staff Reporter

A PUBLIC dispute has suddenly erupted about religious freedom and the extent and reach of traditional authorities’ powers to approve or disapprove the construction of houses of worship in their respective areas of jurisdiction.

This follows after the Onamukalo villagers in the Ohangwena Region rejected an application by the Reformed Evangelical Anglican Church of Namibia (REACH-NA), which applied for a piece of land to build its chapel in the village.

The head of the Church, Bishop Lukas Katenda, submitted the application on 24 December, but when the village committee met on 27 December to consider the application, it concluded that the village has no suitable land for a church.
Additionally, a general village assembly was held on 30 December, where the application was definitively rejected by the villagers.

“Any individual villager who needs REACH-NA services is free to go get such services wherever they are available,” said Onamukalo village headwoman Justina Hamukwaya in a letter she addressed to Bishop Katenda on 31 December.

Approached for comment, Bishop Katenda blamed the dispute on people who “know nothing” about the freedoms enshrined in the Namibian Constitution and said that his Church will now take the matter up with the Community Court.
He said that his Church has many members in Onamukalo village, having conducted its first baptisms there two years ago.

PICTURED: REACH-NA members gather for worship under a tree on private property in the Onamukalo village. Photos: Contributed

He further said that the faithful initially held their worship services on private property until a representative of the village leadership ordered them to stop, which they did “out of respect for the Traditional Authority” and pending the approval of the application.
Now that the application has been rejected, Katenda said that members will continue holding their worship services on private property until such time as their application is approved.

Katenda disputed the claim that there is no suitable land for a church.
“We did not apply for land the size of a mahangu field. We merely intend to build a simple chapel where the faithful can assemble to worship, protected from wind, rain and direct sunlight,” he said.

REACH-NA was established in 2017, bringing together people who broke away from the Anglican Diocese of Namibia under Katenda’s leadership, and followers of the then practically dormant Church of England of late Peter Kalangula.

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