By MOFFAT  CHAZINGWA –

EIGHT foreigners, among them, three pastors, were yesterday rounded up during a joint Registrar of Society and Immigration Department raid of churches in Kitwe, aimed at getting rid of illegal activities in churches.

The foreign nationals, who were detained at Riverside Police Station, were rounded up after failing to produce valid immigration documents following a raid on 24 churches.

Chief Registrar of Societies Kakoma Kanganja and Ministry of Home Affairs spokesperson Moses Suwali, who led the joint operation, confirmed the detention of the eight foreigners, who included a Nigerian pastor and Congolese nationals.

Mr Suwali said the eight were rounded up and taken to Riverside Police Station for questioning after they failed to produce valid documentation supporting their stay in Zambia.

He said those rounded up were Ehirim Vistusmodestus, a Nigerian pastor who was picked up from Abundance of His Grace Church in Nkana East. He was found with a permit, but for a different church.

Mr Suwali said the team also picked up two other suspected foreigners from Ramuful Gospel Church and Assemblies Pentecostal Church in Ipusukilo Township for allegedly faking the names of Gift Mwamba and Denny Zulu, respectively.

He named other suspects as Joseph Mulenga and Clement Zulu from Emmanuel Church, Sara Chanda, Josephine Kabwe and Christine Kashala from Efatah Church, all from Ipusukilo area.

Mr Kanganja said the raid followed numerous reports of illegal activities being perpetrated in the name of the Church.

“We came to conduct a random inspection of churches to check on compliance levels and we have noticed that compliance levels are not there among the churches,” Mr Kanganja said.

He said out of the 24 churches inspected, only two, namely, Faith Christian Church and World of Faith Soul Winning Ministries were found with valid registration documents.

Mr Kanganja said this was a big concern to the Government because the existence of illegal churches posed a serious threat to the security of the country.

He said his office would now intensify monitoring of churches to check on compliance levels and those defaulting would be dealt with under the law.

“The Government has in fact, funded the department to install a computerised system which will help us monitor effectively the compliance levels,” Mr Kanganja said.