Judge against taking church wrangles to court

When the High Court in Lilongwe on Monday convened to hear the case between the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) Livingstonia Synod and its splinter Kanengo congregation, the presiding judge received an applause for speaking against taking religious wrangles to court.

The synod alleges that the congregation’s members severed ties with the main church hence they should stop using the church building and property.

But presiding judge Charles Mkandawire said the church should settle religious and membership differences out of court.

The judge made the remarks after hearing testimonies and cross-examination of the synod’s moderator the Reverend Douglas Chipofya, general secretary the Reverend Levi Nyondo and former minister at Kanengo congregation, Sangwani Mumba.

Said the judge: “I would prefer that church differences should not come to court. There are differences everywhere, but you don’t see the Catholic church settling their differences in court.”

His remarks received uncharacteristic hand clapping in the jam-packed courtroom whose two aisles were divided between the two factions—one which wants to continue praying in Kanengo church and the other belonging to the synod which wants control of the property because the other members detached themselves from the synod.

The divisions and differences were clear inside and out of court as evidenced by the murmurs of disagreements over the line of questioning by the faction’s lawyer Zeros Matumba, but also the groupings after the court adjourned for lunch.

The members of the congregation stood under a tree, a distance from the other group whose members were seen congratulating Chipofya for his responses during cross-examination.

The wrangles between the synod and its congregation in Lilongwe came to a head when the synod resolved to suspend then disrobe the Reverend Chimwemwe Mhango after he refused a transfer from the Kanengo congregation to Euthini in Mzimba.

The matter refuses to die following Mhango’s ouster and subsequent orders from the synod in Mzuzu that the breakaway faction should stop operating from the Kanengo church.

The major issue now is ownership of the Kanengo church and its contents and bank accounts which the synod wants to control, but some members of the congregation have refused to handover.

The synod’s first witness in the civil case, Chipofya came under fire during cross-examination from Matumba who demanded that he should prove that he is a trustee of the Livingstonia Synod and has a right to reclaim property from the Kanengo congregation.

Matumba said a search of the registration of Livingstonia Synod with the Registrar General did not show Chipofya as a trustee.

“I became a trustee when I became moderator elect in 2012. If you can’t find that information then it’s a matter of placement. But as long as the church is registered all those details must be there,” Chipofya said.

The respondents’ lawyer grilled the reverend to tell the court the number and type of chairs that were in the Kanengo congregation but Chipofya could not give a response.

Earlier, the judge allowed an affidavit by the Kanengo congregation session clerk Hezron Banda to be admitted after the synod’s lawyer Victor Gondwe argued that it contained contradictions and issues irrelevant to the matter under contention which was ownership of the church property.

The judge has since asked the two sides to exchange written submissions before he makes his determination before Christmas holidays.