The people who belong to the Johane Masowe WeChishano landed at the Hosea Kutako International Airport on Sunday for an annual baptism conference.
Air Namibia flew the group back to their respective countries on Wednesday evening.
Home affairs permanent secretary Patrick Nandago confirmed yesterday that they denied the group entry because of water shortage in Windhoek.
Nandago said the water issue was just one of the reasons, and the other was failure to comply with the country’s entry requirements.
“They did not do proper consultations before applying. You see, we have to take all these things into consideration. We need to consider their place of accommodation. The place they stated as their host does not have the capacity to accommodate all of them,” he said.
Nandago also said they were concerned that some of the visitors would have ended up squatting.
The Windhoek Municipality spokesperson, Joshua Amukugo, said he was not aware that the shortage of water was the reason why the group was denied entry.
Amukugo said they had nothing to do with giving permission neither are they part of those who grant people or visitors permission to enter the country.
“But when a group like that ends up without accommodation, it then becomes a problem for us, especially when they are believed to be living in the mountains. The city will have a problem then because it affects sanitation, water and health issues as they will invade empty spaces,” Amukugo said.
The vice president of the Council of Churches in Namibia, Clem Marais, said attempts to meet the group on Wednesday failed, but they managed to meet Nandago yesterday morning to discuss the issue.
“There was a lot we discussed and one of the concerns that came out of the discussions was the mushrooming of foreign churches in the country. The permanent secretary also explained to me why the church was denied permission. We respect that,” Marais said.
He also said the government and CCN decided to work together on stricter ways in allowing some churches that only want to extort money from people.
A representative of the Johane Masowe WeChisanu Apostlic Church, Andreas Shafombambi, expressed disappointment with the government yesterday.
“I want someone to investigate this because first we were told by the ministry that it was because the people’s documentation was not proper and that was not the case. Up to now, we are still asking what is the reason,” he said.
When probed further, Shafombambi said: “Let me come back to you. Let me just consult someone and we will give you a detailed statement.”
He did not return calls and text messages.
