Members petiton bishop
the matter and the bishop failed to give them responses regarding same but instead spoke in another platform. He said they had written to the archbishop’s office in Cape Town, South Africa and were awaiting a response.
Shongwe stated that the impromptu meeting, which was held yesterday, reaffirmed that they would not remit assessments.
Also, he mentioned that the group of church members who met at 6:30am on a daily basis had written a letter to the archbishop as well, complaining that they were failing to meet with the bishop, despite several requests made. He stated that there was also a petition which was written which they had come to deliver.
Making their submissions during the meeting, Shongwe stated that the church was in a middle of a crisis. He said they referred to the issue as a crisis considering where it all started.
He said the issue could have been
in Mbabane.
He also pointed out that the bishop had a permanent seat within the church, thus the priests in there must be able to work with the bishop.
“But the problem now is that other members of the Cathedral Church do not want the current bishop thus her seat might gather dust. That is where the problem lies, which may require the intervention of God and Archbishop Thabo Makgoba,” he stated.
Law
As per the senior congregant, the bishop had the law on her side but not the congregation.
He went on to allege that the title deed of the church vested with the Diocesan Trust Board, which was chaired by the bishop and she could decide to lock out the Cathedral congregation.
He clarified that the Cathedral was one other parish or branch of the Anglican Church.
“The headquarters is at the Diocesan Office that controls all the churches or parishes. So in this case, it is one parish fighting with Bishop Dalcy not the entire Anglican Church and it is only one priest that is in issue out of the 210 priests of the Anglican Church,” alleged the senior member.
Dr Dalcy, when contacted, asked who was calling and after this reporter introduced herself, she hung up. Subsequent calls were made but her phone rang unanswered. long resolved but seemingly there was someone who did not consider them as Christ’s believers. “This is our church and we have a responsibility to state how we want to be governed,” he said. He said all bishops in the Anglican Church were vetted but the one they had was allegedly not.
Metropolitan
Thokozani Nkambule said the church had sought the indulgence of the metropolitan on the issue, that whatever actions the bishop had in place should be halted until the archbishop intervened.
Nkambule stated that they had given the bishop enough time to respond but she failed to do so. “We request that the issue of the rector’s transfer should be halted and no action taken until the metropolitan is engaged,” he said.
The metropolitan is actually the archbishop of Cape Town and Metropolitan, which is the head office of the church.
He said in the event that the metropolitan failed to give them what they wanted, they would take action as and when necessary.
Giving the background on the matter, Senior Warden Lolo Mkhabela said they had written to the archbishop who had not yet acknowledged receipt of their letter, seven days later.
Mkhabela said they narrated to the archbishop when they had started addressing the matter on how they had been ignored by the bishop.
She said on Saturday, they emphasised to the archbishop to respond as the matter was serious and could divide the church. Mkhabela said it was painful that the matter was now in the media domain.
Receiving the petition was the Diocese Secretary Sebenzile Nxumalo. She assured the christians that they would pass the message to Dr Dalcy, whom they tried to reach on her mobile phone to inform her about the visit by the Anglican Church members.