OSHAKATI
The Oshakati Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday withdrew the charges of abduction laid by some parents against Pastor Gerhard Kgobetsi of the Oshakati branch of the Potter’s House Christian Fellowship Church.
Police at Oshakati arrested Kgobetsi while preaching at his newly established branch in Oshakati West on August 5 this year.
Kgobetsi’s arrest followed complaints by some Oshakati parents who alleged that he kept their minor children with him at his private house in Ongwediva without their consent.
The parents, most of them members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCIN), also claimed that some of the children no longer paid attention to parental advice since they joined Kgobetsi’s church.
Before Kgobetsi’s arrest, the police regional commander for Oshana Region, Deputy Commissioner Ndahangwapo Kashihakumwa, convened a meeting between Kgobetsi and the parents to discus the abduction claims.
This meeting requested the 25-year-old Kgobetsi to make sure that all minor children in question were released from his house and returned back to their parents’ houses immediately.
Police went on to arrest Kgobetsi some three days later, after he allegedly delayed the release of the children and continued to be with them at his church located in the former Tafel Haus Nightclub building in Oshakati West.
Kgobetsi’s arrest prompted criticism from his Windhoek-based Senior Pastor Set-son Ndahangwapo and his defence lawyer Frieda Kishi accused the police at Oshakati of abuse of power.
Ndahangwapo, in a media statement, alleged that the police at Oshakati and some local church leaders collaborated to have Kgobetsi arrested on false charges.
According to him, the collaboration came about after some Oshakati religious leaders realized that the 10-year-old Potter’s House Church was winning over a lot of worshippers, including many who used to be members of the Lutheran Church.
The court withdrew the charges against Kgobetsi because of the lack of evidence to prove his guilty.