By Bisola Adeyemo
The sect worshipers in Bulawayo City Council in Zimbabwe are set to be banned after being accused of littering and practicing open defecation in bushes, making the environment unfit for human health and safety.
This act has triggered the outbreak of cholera in some communities in recent years.
Most open-air worshipers are members of the white garment apostolic sects popularly, known as Amapostori/Mapostori, who usually conduct prayers in bushes, roadsides, or anywhere the ‘holy spirit’ would have directed them, new Zimbabwe reports.
According to Bulawayo city council’s latest report, several apostolic sect churches has sprouted at almost every opening space in the city where human waste and an assortment of used toilet papers are scattered all over the city.
According to Bulawayo council, Deputy Mayor Mlandu Ncube, raised the matter at a recent council meeting, in some instances the worshipers have the temerity to camp at the undesignated sites for several weeks or even months.
“Council must clear all these open spaces that are being used illegally as churches,” said Ncube.
“You find more than five groups of people with different places of worship and at the end of the day, they leave the places littered. The city has provisions for churches, land is available on offer, therefore all those who establish churches should follow the city’s regulations and acquire land to build their worship structures,” he added.