On 2 June, the Glory of Christ Tanzania Church was de-registered by the Tanzanian government, less than 24 hours after its founder reiterated his criticism of the significant rise in human rights violations in the country in the lead-up to elections in a Sunday sermon.
A directive issued by the Registrar of Societies revoked the church’s registration, alleging that its leader was responsible for violations of Chapter 337 of the Societies Act through politically charged sermons intended to undermine public trust in the government.
The move followed a message delivered on 1 June by Bishop Josephat Gwajima, the Member of Parliament for Kawe who belongs to the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi Party, in which he had announced a seven-day prayer campaign for justice and peace and repeated his condemnation of ongoing abductions and enforced disappearances in the country.
The church was given 21 days from the date of revocation to appeal the decision before the Minister of Home Affairs. Efforts to secure a temporary injunction from the High Court in the Dodoma Zone to block the government’s decision initially failed due to errors contained in the deregistration letter received by the church.
The Glory of Christ Tanzania Church has over 2,000 branches, with a reported membership of over 70,000. The closure of the high-profile denomination has raised concerns regarding infringements on freedom of religion or belief and restrictions on the right to freedom of expression of leaders and members of religious communities.
The church’s closure comes against the backdrop of increasing repression in the lead-up to elections. Earlier, on 8 May, Bishop Benson Bagonza of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, Karagwe Diocese, who has also spoken publicly about the rise in killings and abductions, revealed that he was receiving death threats. More recently, a joint prayer meeting with former members of the Glory of Christ Tanzania Church, hosted on 6 July by the Evangelical Lutheran Church, was surrounded by police officers.
Sources report that the closure of this denomination highlights the misuse of registration legislation as a tool to control, coerce and silence dissent in the nation.
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