Namibian Police chief Sebastian Ndeitunga sent Chief Inspector Christina van Dunem Dafonsech to the north to sort out con artists masquerading as clergymen and healers. 

These businesses exist for the sole purpose of gifting from their members while others sow chaos by telling their clients their tough times or bad luck is because a family member “is busy with them”. 

We know how dangerous these tricksters can be. 

Last year, Sofia Simuma Ndumba survived five litres of a boiling liquid concoction being poured into her and three of her relatives who died in the ordeal by a prophet of Victory Church in Kavango West.

True Gospel of Salvation Ministry, which accommodates sick congregants in Oshikango of Ohangwena region, allegedly told members to ditch their prescribed medicines and promised they will get well through prayers.  

A member told Dafonsech on Tuesday she has mental issues and has stopped using her prescribed medication.

Residents of Omupindi village in Ohangwena are angry at being accused by the Full Gospel of God Ministry’s pastor that they are bewitching each other. 

They said families are destroyed by this church. Dafonsech on Tuesday closed the church operating out of a local house.

Dafonsech on Tuesday afternoon also participated in a sting operation that ensnared a ‘traditional healer’ in Eenhana. The so-called traditional healer, a foreign national, was arrested for operating his business without the appropriate documents. 

It was a surprise when these businesses were caught operating as if nothing happened while Ndeitunga boldly announced Dafonsech’s shake-up tour. 

The audacity of these swindlers is based on our tolerance for them and the loose or non-existent rules around setting up churches. 

Some of these self-proclaimed prophets, who claim they can perform miracles, heal illnesses and sell salvation take the hard-earned money from desperate congregants who often cannot afford to give any away but search for a way out of their hopeless financial and social situations. 

Preying on them while you pretend to pray for them is unforgivable. 

This newspaper has been calling on these businesses to be regulated.

Churches and so-called traditional healers should only be allowed to operate if they are registered and strict professional standards should be maintained. 

At the moment, anyone can just set up a ‘church’ in a shack and charge tithes while making outlandish claims and ‘traditional healers’ can even call themselves doctors while they have no healing powers or skills. 

This free for all cannot be allowed to continue.