By: Justicia Shipena
Founder of True Gospel of Salvation Ministries International Church, Erickson Festus, commonly known as “Apostle Commanda”, says allegations leading to his church’s closure by chief inspector Christina van Dunem Dafonsech are not true.
The church has 71 branches countrywide and has been operating for ten years since its inception in 2012.
Festus told The Villager the police closed his church at Oshikango on Tuesday after allegations that he was instructing sick people not to take medication.
“This is 100% false. I have been a minister for ten years, and I never told any sick person to abandon their medication. Never!”
As a former prisoner and man of God, Festus said that they need medication and prayer when a person is sick.
“How can I tell individuals to abandon their medicine if I go to the hospital when I am sick? If there are some churches telling people to do it, that is not me,” he stressed.
He stated that people making these allegations are not members of his church.
“These are people from the community that hate the church. If the church is committing crimes, it could not be running for ten years,” he lauded.
Festus added that what happened had made his name dirty.
“Now they are saying I am raping people. I want those saying I raped to go and open a case, and we meet in the court.”
Festus claimed these allegations were brought up to have his church closed down without a court order.
“They also did not hear the side of my story and only found people who are working at the church and started interrogating them with the media,” said Festus.
He further claimed that his church is registered and questioned why they closed it.
“My church was registered on 24 March 2012 with the ministry of trade and industry. When they came, they asked for the church documents, and I presented it to them, and now they are claiming it’s not the correct documents,” he said. “Why do they only want to report the bad side but not the good parts.”
He also said there are also allegations that he holds people hostage at the church.
“I never keep people at church, but sometimes they sit there for three or four days; that I will not deny, but I’m not aware that the country’s Constitution does not allow it.”
He said he was never approached on the matter of people staying at the church for extended periods or whether to inform him that it was wrong.
“They were supposed to come to correct me, teach me, direct me, and give me information. It does not mean that I know the law if I am a man of God for ten years. Sometimes we need to be corrected.”
He said the inspector took churches papers bookkeeping recorders for church offering for no reason.
Dafonsech is known for arresting self-proclaimed traditional doctors and prophets in Windhoek’sWindhoek’s informal settlements.
She was sent to northern Namibia this week by police Inspector General Sebastian Ndeitunga to tackle fake churches.
During her operation, she also disputed with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia over the customary rights to a piece of land worth N$6.8 million.
The land is situated close to the Omafo township of Helao Nafidi in the Ohangwena region.
Dafonsech also encountered a “traditional healer” in Eenhana, a foreign national. She arrested him for operating his business without the appropriate documents.
