The elected Maputo Municipal Assembly on Tuesday ruled that the Brazilian evangelical sect, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (IURD), cannot build a cathedral on a corner of one of the city's main thoroughfares, Julius Nyerere Avenue.
The Assembly thus backed up a decision taken by the new mayor, Eneas Comiche, who embargoed building work on the site in April.
The planned cathedral is an embarrassing legacy left to Comiche by his predecessor, Artur Canana. In one of its last acts, the outgoing city council, under Canana, licensed the building of the cathedral in January.
Comiche moved to reverse this decision because the site chosen is in a designated residential area. Furthermore, the presence of a church with space for over 3,000 worshippers would significantly worsen congestion along an already crowded avenue. Comiche also feared that the building would create "noise pollution" - loud singing and wailing characterises IURD services, which would be likely to disturb people living nearby.
The mayor took no definitive decision but handed the matter over to the Assembly and its specialised commissions. But the Assembly was left in no doubt as to Comiche's wishes - in a report in May he said that Canana's authorisation of the cathedral "violated the norms laid down by the Environment Ministry and similar bodies".
The matter came back to the floor of the Assembly for a final vote on Tuesday, and the IURD project was thrown out overwhelmingly with not a single municipal deputy voting in favour of it.
This contradicted a forecast in last week's issue of the weekly paper "Zambeze", which predicted that the Assembly would approve the cathedral. The article linked the predicted approval with the gift of a gold watch to Comiche by the IURD leadership.
On Tuesday, "Imparcial", a newsheet that supports the former rebel movement Renamo, claimed that the ruling Frelimo party was seriously divided over the issue. But there was no sign of any such split when the vote was taken.
The resolution, imposing an indefinite embargo on building work on the IURD site, also recommended that the City Council discuss with the IURD possible alternative locations for its cathedral. The president of the IURD's Mozambican branch, Jose Guerra, told AIM he as disappointed by the vote.
"This decision surprises me", he said, "but we have to respect it".
He insisted that the site belongs to the IURD and that "in designing the cathedral we followed the city council's norms and master plan". He did not say whether the church plans to appeal against the decision.
This is the first serious blow to the IURD's advance in Mozambique. It already has dozens of churches, plus its own radio and television station.
With its fraudulent miracles and frequent exorcisms, IURD services are certainly entertaining. The downside is a crude biblical literalism in its theology, and a ruthless attempt to extract as much money as possible from the IURD's gullible flock.
Believers are urged to give a tenth of their income to the church - a reversion to the medieval practice of tithes.
Fonte:AIM
