Times Of Swaziland: ANGLICAN BISHOP HITS BACK AS LAWYERS ROPED IN

ANGLICAN BISHOP HITS BACK AS LAWYERS ROPED IN
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Mbongiseni Ndzimandze on 28/07/2023 07:49:00


MBABANE - “The matter of All Saints is painful and characterised by many
meetings and voluminous letters exchanged between the parties.”
This was said by Anglican Church Bishop Dr Dalcy Dlamini, in a correspondence
directed to lawyers who had been instructed to call upon her to immediately
withdraw the transfer of Rector Advent Nhlanhla Dlamini. The leadership of the
Cathedral Parish in Mbabane, represented by All Saints Churchwardens, has since
approached lawyers from Robison Bertram to act on their behalf after the bishop
purportedly continued with the transfer of Reverend Nhlanhla. In the
correspondence written by the lawyers, a demand has been made to the bishop to
immediately retract the letter transferring the rector, pending resolution of
the concerns contained in the Safe and Inclusive Church Reporting Form as well
as the delivery of the findings of the task team.
Persist
“In the event that you persist and not retract the correspondence or engage
the wardens in some interim arrangement, we hold instructions to launch urgent
court proceedings to interdict you from proceeding with what is patently an
impermissible cause of action,” reads part of the correspondence directed to
the bishop. In response, Bishop Dalcy first highlighted that Rector Nhlanhla had
been with the Cathedral for more than 22 years, where he also held the position
of Dean, very much longer than any priest to be posted in any church within the
Eswatini Diocese.She said the rippling effect of such long posting created
problems when the congregation got personally attached to the rector.  The
bishop said it was understandable that close relationships had been formed with
the church members.
Experience
“His experience is very vast, but he is needed in other parishes so that the
diocese can spiritually grow,” reads part of the bishop’s correspondence.
According to the bishop, the rotational transfers were not unique to the
Anglican Church, as that was normal in churches like the Evangelical, Roman
Catholic, Alliance, John Wesley and the Church of the Nazarene, among others.
She related  that Advent Nhlanhla had been nominated by the Cathedral as a
bishop-elect, but there was no automatic winner in the 2021 elections, thus she
was elected by the Synod of Bishops headed by Archbishop Thabo Makoba in 2022.
“Clearly the cathedral was not happy at the loss of their candidate yet the
cathedral is the main and central church of the bishop within the diocese. The
office of the dean is akin to deputy bishop. The wardens or someone caused a
letter to be published in the newspapers authored by Advent Dlamini that he is
not willing to work with us during our tenure of bishop. We brushed aside the
feeling of Advent Dlamini and continued to work with him, even not encouraging
him to resign when such thought crossed his mind, because we still have great
plans for him as a senior priest,” said the bishop. These are allegations
whose veracity is still to be tested.
She went on to state that, after they had been consecrated and following their
canons, they sat and prayed with Advent Nhlanhla and, thereafter, worked in
unison in rotating the priests around for spiritual growth and to fill vacant
posts. According to the bishop, at that time he held the position of dean,
Advent Nhlanhla was also amenable to be moved anywhere else, but he specifically
asked not to be transferred to the Luve Parish and she duly took note of his
request.
Process
“We consulted thoroughly with Reverend Dlamini but during that process, the
wardens started contacting us clearly exhibiting that Rev Dlamini was now
seeking support from them and we met with the wardens and the Parish Church
Council (PCC) for a consultation on March 4, 2023.” stated the bishop. She
said they thought the matter was concluded on that day, in that he (Rev
Nhlanhla) would stay as rector until further notice. She alleged that
unfortunately, he missed the meeting without leave from the bishop. Bishop Dalcy
said an invite had been sent to Rev Nhlanhla to attend as the Chair of the PCC.
“The bishop duly confirmed the resolution taken on March 4, 2023 in a letter,
but your clients came up with a fresh demand that they want Rev Dlamini to be
posted permanently at the cathedral. The demand was uncanonical even if one were
to accede to it. No cogent reason was put forth why Rev Dlamini had to be posted
permanently in the cathedral. Your letter is also amiss of the reasoning behind
such request,” she stated. It was alleged by the bishop that the wardens
allegedly started calling vestry meetings, which were not canonically provided
for.
“It is worth mentioning that your clients are officers of the bishop and have
abrogated from that responsibility, while wearing the cloaks of wardens. Even
before meeting the congregants, they had made a resolution that Rev Dlamini
should be posted permanently, thus the congregation rubberstamped the wardens’
thoughts in the matter,” said the bishop. She mentioned that they sent four
diocesan legal team officials to try and find a way forward between the office
of the bishop and wardens.
Comprised
“The four legal officers comprised of two congregants from All Saints and an
acquaintance to Rev Dlamini and a neutral person. Your clients rejected these
diocesan officials, which comprised of people who had journeyed with Rev Dlamini
ever since he arrived in the cathedral. One such official had in the near
distant past blocked some members of the current PCC and congregants who wanted
Rev Dlamini to be transferred from the cathedral for overstaying his term and
introducing a free service once a month that did not celebrate the Holy
Communion in order to contain those congregants who were joining other ministry
churches, where the Holy Communion was not celebrated.
“After rejecting the legal officials, the wardens thereafter lodged an appeal
with the Metropolitan Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, who held that the matter is
premature before him and directed the cathedral to utilise the internal
structures,” the bishop said. She said she did not know if the matter had been
taken to Makgoba as a way of appeal before the threat of going to secular courts
was utilised.  She further mentioned that the cathedral, through an uncanonical
vestry meeting, came to a decision not to collect any church offering and to
withhold the assessment that was deposited into the diocesan office, which funds
(comprising tithes and offerings) were utilised to pay the pension fund of the
retiring and deceased priests.
She stated that, according to their regulations, Rev Nhlanhla was not supposed
to be paid his salary for the withholding of an assessment by his parish, but
the wardens allegedly forcefully demanded the payment of the stipend of Reverend
Nhlanhla by allegedly going to the extent of even harassing the diocesan staff
by calling them after work from 8pm in the still of the night. The bishop
alleged that this was despite that the stipend funds had been deposited into Rev
Nhlanhla’s account without fail at the same time of the month.
Letter
“As we write this letter, despite the blackmail tactic using God’s money,
Rev Dlamini is receiving his stipend without fail,” alleged the bishop. She
said they continued to consult with the wardens and went through the canons and
noted that the request by the congregants was not feasible, as doing so would
have invoked a charge of discipline against the bishop. It was further her
submission that, in the midst of their engagement, the wardens allegedly later
demanded that people from the cathedral should be appointed into the various
Boards of the diocese yet  they were elected into such Boards and the Synod
delegates elected theirs in the Synod of 2022, through free and fair elections.
She highlighted that she was not even the electoral officer. “The wardens
decided to lead a march to the office of the bishop on April 23, 2023, at around
3pm, with very young children on tow and others being carried by their mothers
to deliver a petition that they want Rev Dlamini to remain Rector for life in
the Cathedral, knowing very well that we were not present at home. They returned
on April 26, 2023 under the cover of darkness after 7pm to deliver a petition,
which we received and they left as soon as we asked that we pray after naming
the task team and delivering the terms of reference,” she stated. Bishop Dalcy
said it was worth stating that they did not pray even on April 23, 2023, despite
inviting the press to her residence.