Mozambique: Worshippers clash with police at Maputo church over priest – Lusa report

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: Worshippers clash with police at Maputo church over priest – Lusa report

8:31 CAT | 22 Mar 2022

Photo: O País

he temple of the Old Apostolic Church of Mozambique, one of the largest Protestant religious denominations in the country, with over a million followers, was the scene of clashes and police intervention on Sunday, when a group of faithful demanded the resignation of a pastor, accused of adultery.

The public television channel Televisão de Moçambique (TVM) on Monday showed groups of worshippers clashing in the Matola municipality on the outskirts of Maputo, with uniformed and plain-clothed police officers intervening to control the situation.

People considered strangers to the church are also seen getting involved in the clashes, some displaying knives, and are accused of being part of the private security of pastor Jaime Matlombe, one of the three principals of the church.

“The pastor can no longer continue in this function, he got involved sexually with the wife of a church supervisor and that is an unforgivable sin”, accused one of the believers interviewed by TVM, who also accused Jaime Matlombe of embezzling funds from the institution.

Another believer told Lusa that before the beginning of Sunday’s service there were already plain-clothed police in the temple, having received reinforcements when the skirmishes broke out.

“The church is on fire, that pastor destroyed the reputation” of the service and “there are believers who no longer set foot in the temple because of the shamelessness there,” he said.

Another member of the faithful said Jaime Matlombe had been carrying a gun since tension mounted in the church at the end of last year, following rumours that he had been having an extramarital affair for 10 years with his housekeeper, a woman married to an overseer in the same church.

The pastor of the Old Apostolic Church of Mozambique denied to TVM the accusations hanging over him, preferring to rejoice in the works achieved during the years he has been at the head of the congregation, mainly the construction of places of worship.

“Later this year we will inaugurate a church in Xai-Xai,” he stressed.

The Old Apostolic Church of Mozambique is subordinated to a mother congregation in South Africa and is one of the most followed in Mozambique.

Source: Lusa