According to the spokesperson for the Criminal Investigation Service (SIC) in Huíla, inspector Segunda Quitumba, the Missão de Serviço church, located on the outskirts of Lubango, the capital of Huíla, was closed and the pastor arrested.
The SIC spokesperson in Huíla, quoted by Angop, said that dozens of sick people were found at the site, hospitalized in huts, who said they had made payments in cash or with goats, in exchange for their cure.
Segunda Quitumba highlighted that people were housed in degrading conditions and presented different clinical conditions, highlighting the presence of pregnant women and children with symptoms compatible with hydrocephalus, malaria, among other illnesses.
Speaking to Lusa, the general secretary of the Council of Christian Churches of Angola (CICA), Vladimir Agostinho, lamented the death of this 19-year-old girl, stressing that the organization views the problem of religious sects in Angola with “great concern”.
Vladimir Augustine criticized the fact that "when a pastor wants to put himself in God's place to determine cures, which then result in deaths."
“Cures that later result in disastrous situations, pastors who end up captivating members and prohibiting them from going to the hospital, under the pretext that they have healing power,” he stressed.
The CICA secretary general highlighted that the Law on Freedom of Religion and Worship is currently under review, which will require higher education in theology for the accreditation of religious leaders, “to avoid this misdirection that has been seen in the country”.
“We are one of the platforms that proposed to the Government the revision of Law 12/19, precisely because of the misdirection that we have been seeing in our society. We have been talking to church leaders in order to keep the leadership intact, so that there are no divisions, which result in this disorder that we have been seeing in our society”, he stressed.
According to Vladimir Agostinho, reviewing the law is an important step, but a change in mentality is also needed.
“We need to know the sacred scriptures, we need to stop deceiving others, because there are many people who take advantage of those who are most vulnerable and in the name of faith promote themselves as apostles, prophets, bishops, priests,” he said.
The social situation that society is currently facing, the economic crisis, combined with the low level of education in some communities, results in people being “easily deceived, exploited by these pastors and sects”, pointed out Vladimir Agostinho.
