GWANDA municipality has warned open-air worshippers in the Matabeleland South capital against conducting their sermons in places without ablution facilities.
The municipality said the churches were fouling the environment since they did not have toilets, which is in violation of the town’s by-laws. Council said the churches were a source of discomfort for residents as they make noise through loud music and hailers.
In a public notice dated November 14, Gwanda town clerk Priscilla Nkala said churches operating without council approval were a public health threat.
“Notice is hereby given that all churches in Gwanda must comply with the existing Acts, council by laws and regulations in regards to proper infrastructure, ablution facilities and the need to seek authority or guidance prior to setting up any place of worship,” Nkala notified the churches.
In Bulawayo, which is studying a proposal to turn idle beerhalls into places of worship, council has been clamping down on churches that operate from open spaces with no toilets and running water.
Environmental experts have identified open-air worshippers as a potential source of water-borne diseases.
Early this week, the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee 2023 report said most Gwanda residents were still practising open defecation due to poor water and sanitation infrastructural development in the mining town.
The report urged government to urgently address the high cases of open defecation because the practice will derail the country’s 2030 upper-middle-income status goal.
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Many urban areas have experienced a proliferation of apostolic churches engaging in open-air worshipping in spaces where there are no water and ablution facilities.
