Church to take rowdy pastors to task

A SPATE of embarrassing incidents involving clergy of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Namibia (ELCRN) over the past month are expected to receive the attention when the church council meets today for its bi-monthly ordinary session.

Three church elders, including two pastors, have been involved in alleged alcohol-induced transgressions since last week – incidents that landed the two pastors in court.
In the first case, Pastor Lazarus !Gauaseb was found guilty of assault after he beat up an elder at Okombahe west of Omaruru.
The elder, //Hui-khoe// Hoebeb, has claimed damages of N$700 from the pastor, who is alleged to have thrown him to the ground before kicking him in the ribs.
The incident occurred while the two were going around the area serving Holy Communion to various congregations.
The second case involved Pastor Willem Pieters, who was caught driving under the influence of alcohol on the road between Windhoek and Rehoboth last Sunday.
Pieters paid bail of N$2 000 following his arrest, as well as an admission-of-guilt fine of N$1 000 at his last court appearance on Tuesday.
Pieters was in the news last year after laying an assault charge against fellow Pastor Paul /Goagoseb.
/Goagoseb allegedly punched him in the face because of remarks that he made during the memorial service of a church colleague.
ELCRN Bishop Zephania Kameeta told The Namibian yesterday that both matters were being investigated by the deans in the constituencies where these incidents happened.
“Of course I am very much distressed myself over what is reported to have happened, but we will hear from the deans what they have decided – whether to investigate or whether the reports are already available. We’ll have to obviously take into consideration not only our own (church) laws but also the Labour Act with regards to what steps to take,” Kameeta said.
denver@namibian.com.na