Police order church to unchain

SAUYEMWA – The Namibian Police yesterday ordered the pastor of the Apostolic Faith Church at Sauyemwa informal settlement in Rundu to unchain mentally challenged patients being ‘treated’ at the church.

The Police launched an investigation into the activities taking place at the church after it emerged that the Apostolic Faith Church has become a popular ‘clinic’ of sorts for people with different afflictions who go to the church seeking ‘divine intervention’. At the centre of the controversy is a practice whereby the church puts patients who are regarded as aggressive in chains – a practice that is said to have been going on for over a decade.Deputy Commissioner Willie Bampton visited the church yesterday along with officials of the Ministry of Health and Social Services.Bampton’s visit followed a similar visit by social workers from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare in the Kavango Region on Wednesday to acquaint themselves with the situation.About nine people were found chained to poles and metal objects.The Deputy Commissioner told pastor Moses Matyayi to release the patients so that they can be admitted to the Rundu State Hospital for possible referral to the psychiatric unit in Windhoek, saying that the Police cannot allow the practice to continue as it is ‘cruel and inhumane’.Bampton explained to Matyayi that although his intentions are good, chaining people up is not a good thing to do as it robs them of their dignity and reflects badly on the state of human rights in Namibia.The Police confiscated all the chains that were used to tie up the patients. The officers met resistance from the patients’ relatives, who were of the opinion that the ‘patients’ are aggressive and a danger to society. The relatives told the Police that they turned to the church after treatment at State hospitals allegedly did nothing to improve their family members’ conditions. Pastor Matyayi vowed not to tie up people again and claimed not to know that what he was doing was a violation of his patients’ human rights. He explained to the Police that the individuals were usually tied up to prevent them from running away and explained how he had been bitten by patients before. He also said the relatives of the afflicted individuals agree to having them tied up and said they are in fact the ones who buy the chains and padlocks.Matyayi also claims that he has in the past approached the offices of regional health director Elizabeth Muremi, former Rundu mayor Gosbert Sikerete and the councillor of the Rundu Rural West constituency, Rosa Kavara, to assist him in setting up facilities for the mentally ill people at his church, but he said he got no response.The patients, some of them from Angola, are usually kept in chains for the duration of their ‘treatment’ at the church.Matyayi earlier displayed a number of crutches and padlocks that belonged to people who he claims to have healed using prayer and olive oil.The latest incident which has left Rundu residents in shock involved an 11-year-old girl from Sauyemwa who is said to have vomited pieces of broken glass last week.The girl, whose name is being withheld to protect her identity, had allegedly been exhibiting strange behaviour, which was labelled a demonic possession, since early January this year.She reportedly vomited last Monday after being given a glass of olive oil by Matyayi and the vomit allegedly contained two small pieces of glass.The following day, the girl allegedly vomited again, this time bringing up 82 small pieces of broken glass. The girl’s father told Nampa last Thursday that his daughter and her 24-year-old aunt started to make bold prophetic declarations and statements in January this year, and he took them to six different churches and two traditional healers in Botswana, hoping to have them healed.Despite spending a lot of money, they did not show any signs of improving. After their failed excursion to Botswana, the family made a stopover at Rundu where a social worker at the Elizabeth Nepemba Rehabilitation Centre apparently directed them to Matyayi, who took both the girl and her aunt into his care and started praying for them. – Nampa

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