The Minister of Information and Communication Technology says the government is encountering some challenges with certain faith-based organisations.

Dr. Peya Mushelenga was giving a presentation on the collaboration between the church and government in socio-economic development at an ELCIN capacity-building workshop in Rundu.

Dr. Mushelenga says during a difficult period like the COVID-19 pandemic, some faith-based organisations took a stance that was contrary to what the government was advising.

"When the government is telling people to go and get vaccinated, some FBOs are telling people it's 666. I don't know where they got this. There are people who became experts in the Bible without having undergone substantive training. That's why, in Rwanda, President Kagame said that for you to establish a church, you must show me your degree in theology from a recognised academic institution. Where they found that the COVID-19 vaccination was equal to 666, I do not know. I also studied theology, and I have not come across that."

The minister said certain churches went as far as putting the lives of their congregants at risk.

"Even when we were telling people during COVID to abide by the regulations and not to come together, some churches were adamant. Some churches were still insisting on continuing services and so on because it was worshipping God, saying we could go even if we had COVID."

Dr. Mushelenga gives an example of how far some faith-based organisations would go to widely spread certain ideas.

"Some faith-based organisations are just having negative tendencies and are very antagonistic to programmes. When we were talking about 5G, which really enhances communication, because some countries are competing and it's a business competition, they started criticising 5G because 5G came from China. Now the West is criticising this technology, and some FBOs fell into this trap and started to propagate against it. So these are some of the challenges we do face from FBOs."