When he decided to hand over the reins of power to Bishop Owen Isaacs, Pastor Innocent Nkomo of Bread of Life International Christian Church says that was a result of God ‘telling’ him to do so.
That hits you right in the face and as your mind reels in confusion, questions begin to swirl in your head. How does God speak to people? What sort of voice does he speak in? Is it a tenor, baritone or base? And, why is it that He is always speaking to leaders of charismatic churches? Is there any chance at all that God is not on speaking terms with leaders of mainline, non-charismatic churches because you will never hear, say a Catholic priest, publicly say God spoke to him?
“You don’t hear a voice,” Nkomo explains patiently. “God speaks through a whole set of people. He can speak through your child, your wife or your friend. You then have to assess what you are told to determine whether it is just opinion or God really speaking to you through that person.”
He asserts that He also does the same with leaders of mainline churches, only they do not go public about it.
“They are not always loud about it but God does speak to them. It is just like a family situation that has loud and quiet children from one father,” says Nkomo, a Zimbabwean national who has been resident in Botswana for 17 years now. His position as Overseer makes him international head of the church.
Via that method, God spoke to Nkomo and so last year, he handed over the reins of power to Isaacs. Or did he? That is the question that some congregants are asking themselves. ┬áA senior member of the church says that Isaacs is just a figurehead and that Nkomo retains all power and control over the church ÔÇô especially its finances.
In June this year, Nkomo controversially opened a bank account in the church’s name. A very well-placed source says this was done with neither the knowledge nor authority of the National Executive Board. Nkomo denies this.
The church’s constitution confers signatory authority on three office holders: the treasurer, chairperson and secretary. Nkomo does not hold any of those positions and neither do the other signatories of that bank account.
In his defence, Nkomo says that as Overseer, he is signatory to all bank accounts. However, a close reading of the Overseer’s duties in the constitution does not explicitly state so in the manner it does with the aforementioned trio.
There is supposed to have been a meeting at which this account was discussed and Nkomo instructed to close it. The account is still operational.
There are two conflicting accounts of how the tithing is done. A source says that pastors tithe directly to Nkomo and that couples intending to marry have to tithe to him for three months in order that he can solemnise their marriage.
┬áOn the other hand, the Overseer says that pastors ÔÇô himself included ÔÇô tithe into a common account and that the money raised this way is used to finance pastoral work nationwide.
“That is totally untrue. Angiti [isn’t it] these days there is DIS which checks our bank accounts,” he says referring to the Directorate on Intelligence Services and throwing in some Ndebele.┬á ┬á
One of the signatories of that bank account is Pastor Katanga Tshuma, a fellow Zimbabwean who received his pastoral training in Botswana at the church’s expense. It would seem a bit odd that a foreigner would be selected over Batswana to undergo such training but Nkomo says that they don’t discriminate for such opportunity.
Tshuma’s meteoric rise within the church irks some people. The story is that when he arrived in Botswana he worked as Nkomo’s driver before he enrolled at a bible school in Tlokweng. After the training he was posted to work in Mochudi, struggled to deliver and was returned to Gaborone. Although he retains the ‘pastor’ title, Tshuma does not do any preaching.
Nkomo’s version is that Tshuma strength is project management and thus it was decided that instead of him ‘laying hands on the sick’, he should run church errands. Nkomo credits Tshuma for effectively supervising the construction of the church building in Block 9. His answer to whether Tshuma did at any point act as his driver is that he would offer such service only out of deference to an older pastor.
“If I am busy and he says ‘can I please take your children home?’ should I refuse? By the way he is not the only church member who offered to drive me and my family,” Nkomo says.
At one point, the two men are supposed to have ‘intercepted’ tithe money destined for the bank. Tshuma had been given the money to deposit but gave some of it to Nkomo. The latter says that what actually happened was that he had to attend to a family emergency in Bulawayo and borrowed church money to make it to the border in time. He says Tshuma made proper consultation with the treasurer and that the information was freely shared with relevant people and the money subsequently reimbursed.
When it set up in Gaborone in 1995, the church acquired property in Phase Two. The building, which is opposite the new CBD still under construction, is a big house that is now being rented out and is being used as a kindergarten. Naturally, the CBD has resulted in the value of property in that area appreciating handsomely. A church member says that the building is in ‘great demand’ and places its value at well over P1 million.
Nkomo ‘grand plan’ is for the church to acquire land countrywide, build cr├¿ches on such land and hope that over time those cr├¿ches would develop into churches. This plan, he adds, includes selling the Phase Two house and using the money to buy land across the country. However, some congregants are apprehensive about the plan because of Nkomo’s (supposed) power and control over finances.
In line with what is common practice in churches, Nkomo’s upkeep is sustained with church money. The church pays for his rent (currently P4000 a month), utility bills, school fees for two of his children who attend an upscale private school in Tlokweng, satellite television service, groceries, monthly allowance for his wife and no-limit fuel expenditure for his car.
Sunday Standard’s information about the groceries figure is P4000 a month but Nkomo revises it down to P1400. He does not deny that his wife gets some money from the church (‘it could be P1000 this month, P2000 the next month’) but says that she is only being ‘thanked’, not paid.
One other person whom the church has ‘thanked’ is Nkomo’s mentor who lives in Zimbabwe. Nkomo says such ‘honorarium’ would be paid when he comes down to preach at the church.
One other charge levelled against Nkomo is that he favours Zimbabweans over Batswana. The only pastors on the church’s payroll are Nkomo, Tshuma and a Zimbabwean-born lady who acquired Botswana citizenship this year. She is said to be Nkomo’s sister-in-law but he denies it.
From a biblical perspective, Nkomo says that the notion of nepotism is non-existent and he quotes from scripture to back that up. The sibling pairs of John and James and Andrew and Peter were disciples of Jesus Christ and Moses (alongside family members Aron and Miriam) led Israelites out of Egypt.
