Headman shuts church after ‘healing’ ends in ICU

A headman in the Kavango West region has ordered the closure of a church after a boy (12) was hospitalised following a ‘healing’ ritual.

Markus Haingura, the headman of Mazwa village in the Musese constituency, has ordered the closure of the Leviticus Voice of Prophet Church.

The boy was admitted to Rundu Intermediate Hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) after the church’s ‘prophet’ allegedly gave him a concoction of vinegar, salt and herbs.

Haingura says the church will remain closed until police investigations are completed.

“We will close it for now to allow the police to do their part. The outcome will give us direction on the matter,” he says.

The headman says neither the community nor the boy’s parents reported the incident to him.

“That is not how to do things. First, report it to the community leaders and then to the police,” he says.

Haingura cautions the community against performing traditional healing practices without proper knowledge or approval.

“We had community engagement as we spoke about churches and traditional healing. We always encourage them to seek advice and approval from traditional leaders so that the leaders would know if something goes wrong,” he says.

The boy’s mother has told The Namibian he is “in a state”.

She says she was initially not informed of his condition and only found out about the incident when the hospital needed her permission for the boy to undergo surgery.

“They killed my child. He is not fine, he was given traditional medicines, roots mixed with salt and spirits, according to what my son told me,” she says.

She says her son’s grandmother took him to the village to heal his tonsils and for “bad spirits”.

The church allegedly demanded to perform the healing ritual due to the boy’s “evil spirits”.

“I refused because I knew my son was not feeling well and he needed medical attention,” she says.

Constituency councillor Kosmos Katura says members of the public are misinterpreting the right to freedom of association.

“It doesn’t mean that when you have freedom of association, then you must misuse it. People should not run for any prophet in their vicinity,” he says.

Katura proposes implementing restrictions on newly established churches.

“As leaders, we have to talk to our people, but once these people are convinced, they will not listen to you or value other churches. They always say the new churches are better than other churches,” he says.

Efforts to reach the ‘prophet’ were not successful.

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