"Kill the gays" pastor may be gone but his stench remains

“I’m not sad about it, I’m not gonna cry about it because those gay people in that bar that got shot up were going to die of AIDS and syphilis and whatever else.

At least these dangerous, filthy predators are off the streets.” Contentious US Pastor Steven Anderson of Faithful World Baptist Church preached favorably with these words about the massacre of 49 patrons at a gay bar in Orlando, Florida earlier this year. These words were only a slice of the viewpoints that consequently made the pastor villainous leading to a ban from entering the United Kingdom and neighboring South Africa.

There were mixed reactions when the Andersons made their itinerary public, detailing a one-day missionary excursion in Botswana on September 25th. LEGAGIBO organization, along with other anti-hate movements in the country, embarked on a campaign against the pastor’s visit into the country. Palpably, a petition with close to three thousand signatures was not enough to keep the ‘Kill the gays’ pastor and his gang away as they found their way into the country last week on cruise control. After much brouhaha and protests, Pastor Anderson was yesterday declared a prohibited immigrant by the government and immediately deported from Botswana.

As much as this was perceived as a victory by thousands of people who voiced out against the pastor and his hateful sermon whippings on a daily basis, it does not take away the painful fact that he was given an opportunity to spew a hate screed in our country. Anderson was given a matchstick and he started a fire that spread so fast it almost ‘killed’ everyone, an adjective he is very fond of. Of course the government eventually put out the fire, but the ash, soot and smoke odors that remain will be a part of us as a generation that celebrates being united and proud this year.

The Midweek Sun was on Monday contacted by a 60-year-old elderly Tony Benn who narrated how Anderson assaulted him when he visited their church on Sunday morning. Visibly traumatised over the incident, Benn narrated that he visited the church to observe how it operated and to perhaps give Anderson the benefit of the doubt following his portrayal in the media. “When I challenged his views and made it clear that I was not a heterosexual and not a homosexual either with the intent to provoke him, the pastor demanded that I leave their premises because I was an old fag.

I told him my sexual preference was not an important matter to address publicly and made it clear to him that he lacked botho and respect for an elder and that is when they physically dragged me out of the church pushing me to a car park,” he said. Benn said he was mortified by the reaction but he wasn’t prepared for what came next. He said that pastor Anderson hurled foul-mouthed insults towards him, calling him ‘a reprobate that has AIDS’ and an ‘old hag that has a mouth filled with AIDS.”The Midweek Sun followed up the incident with Pastor Anderson who briefly admitted to manhandling Benn and ‘rightly’ believing it was the wisest thing to do. “Yes I threw him out of my church.

He was a trespassing and filthy homosexual. He had no place entering private premises,” he said before hanging up the phone.Benn reported the matter to the police and engaged a lawyer.On a radio interview on Gabz FM yesterday morning before he was whisked away by Immigration officials, Anderson proved that he did not care about abusing free speech to peddle hatred and violence. He went on a poisonous harangue, advocating for gays in Botswana to be killed, nodding in favour of slavery and even stating that he would neither touch nor shake hands with Caine Youngman, an advocacy officer at LEGABIBO, because he ‘was filthy, dirty and a paedophile who sleeps with strangers.’Throughout the interview, Anderson was malignantly and unremorsefully homophobic, causing an outrage from Batswana who called in condemning his views.In spite of all his views and his sour history, Anderson still has an active team of local cheerleaders who believe in his ways. “This is a man of God preaching the truth. He is just being deported for speaking the truth,” a supporter sounded off on the church’s Facebook page.

In just seven days, the 35-year-old Anderson has already left a disgusting legacy of hate in the country. Most children in Tlokweng where his church is based were subjected to the role modeling of his hatred and advocacy for social violence. 15-year old Kemmonye Modise who resides in Tlokweng revealed to this publication that she is heavy with the burden of despair that the pastor was deported. “It is very sad. I didn’t believe in the Bible until I met him last week. He is a good man who needs to save our country,” she said. Kemmonye’s mother, who wanted to be identified only as ‘Mma Modise,’ said she and her family are now firm Anderson believers. “Just because he is gone does not change anything. G

od will see him through everything and we pray for him. My children loved him,” she said. The Midweek Sun has learnt that Botswana is the first and only foreign church plant of such an organisation that makes bigotry seem like a cool game of squash. Now that the country has also lit its anti-Anderson fuse, much remains to be seen what happens to the church in Tlokweng. LEGABIBO welcomed the development as Youngman, who was insulted by the pastor, said he was relieved that the vile and judgmental man was deported, adding that respect and tolerance towards other people is very important.Hendrik Baird, who reportedly spearheaded the campaign against Anderson’s visit to South Africa, also welcomed Botswana’s deportation. “We are ecstatic about this.

Africa has now stood up for what’s right. We should always be vigilant of these new colonialists coming to Africa and telling us how to run our lives,” he said. Anderson said he is only guilty of bringing a message of love. “This is not some kind of hate rally. We are bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ. People who are reprobates only want to talk about my preaching against Sodomy, which is not the focus of my ministry. I didn’t write the book of Leviticus or the book of Romans - God did. It is God they hate,” he said.