Judicial Council denies Appeal; Bishop Kawimbe Removed from 19thEpiscopal District
On September 6, 2019, the Judicial Council of the African Methodist Episcopal Church issued a decision denying the appeal of Bishop Paul Jones Malenga Kawimbe regarding his removal from the supervision of the 19th Episcopal District (eastern South Africa). On June 24, the Council of Bishops voted with a two-thirds majority to remove Bishop Kawimbe from the Episcopal District “for the good of the church” in accordance with the Discipline (Part XI, Section III D (1), p. 172). According to the Council of Bishops, Bishop Kawimbe will “retain full salary and no loss of priestly functions”.
Per the Discipline, Bishop Kawimbe had the right of appeal to the Judicial Council, the church’s highest appellate court in the interim of the General Conference and duly filed on July 5, 2019.
In their majority decision, the Judicial Council denied the appeal and sustained the decision of the Council of Bishops stating that: “The problems in the Nineteenth Episcopal District are well-documented. The responses by Bishop Kawimbe and two Presiding Elders to direct questions by the Grievance Committee [of the Council of Bishops] are incomplete and nonresponsive. The decision of the Council of Bishops does ‘not deny salary, seniority or the possibility of another assignment’ to Bishop Kawimbe. There is nothing to suggest that there is a bias against the members of our illustrious African Methodist Episcopal Church who are African. The decision by the Council of Bishops was factually based and not made arbitrarily.”
This decision comes in the wake of over two years of wide-spread controversy across the 19th Episcopal District. On July 21, 2017, a mass protest of 400 clergy and laity in the 19thEpiscopal District delivered a petition to Bishop Kawimbe citing concerns regarding Episcopal staff, accounting procedures, and the pastoral pension fund. In August 2017, the Council of Bishops voted to impose administrative oversight over Bishop Kawimbe including assigning one of its number to supervise his conduct in Annual Conferences. In December 2017, Bishop Kawimbe was tried by a duly constituted church court and found not guilty of improperly removing a presiding elder.
During the 2018 Annual Conference series, several clergy were summarily removed from charges and suspended prompting appeals to the Judicial Council. Although the Judicial Council compelled Bishop Kawimbe to convene Conciliation Committees, the process was not followed and two clergypersons were expelled in August 2019 prompting suits at the South Gauteng High Court with the expulsion being stayed by the High Court. A mass protest again occurred in June 2019 with participants marching on the Episcopal Office alleging that the forensic audit required by the Council of Bishops had not been conducted.
The final disposition regarding Bishop Kawimbe’s status will occur at the 2020 General Conference in Orlando, Florida. Bishop E. Earl McCloud, Jr. has been assigned to superintend the 19th Episcopal District until the General Conference.
