Pastor Brown’s divorce dilemma

Marriage Counsellor leaves wife after 13 years of marriage

“To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do us part.”

The above statement is echoed every Saturday across the land as men and women are given and taken in marriage.

While the number of marriages in Botswana increase every year, statistics show divorce rates are rapidly rising as well.

Figures released by Statistics Botswana revealed that 1, 088 divorce cases were registered in 2014 which grew to 1, 190 in 2015. The cases increased to 1, 316 in 2016 and 1, 400 in 2017.

This worrying trend prompted the founder of Praise House Church, Pastor Brown Tsholofelo, 39, to start an organisation called Fight Against Divorce.

Through this initiative, the popular Pastor held workshops teaching married couples and those intending to get hitched how to strengthen their relationships.

However, as fate would have it, Tsholofelo soon found himself fighting the same demon he has been warning his congregants about.

In September, the charismatic man of God divorced his wife of 13 years and the mother of his two children, Mary Tsholofelo.

A concerned family friend and a member of his church told The Voice that the break-up has sent shockwaves across the Ministry and has left a lot of young couples confused.

“Remember this guy had a successful workshop on marriage which was covered by the media, particularly Duma FM. He was a role model to a lot of young people who followed his teachings!” said the gentleman, who ironically is a divorcee himself.

He added that the divorce came out of the blue as there had been no indication that the Pastor’s marriage was in trouble.

“We were all in shock to learnt that the two decided to part ways due to the wife’s financial mismanagement,” he said, claiming that Mary frequently travelled to China and Sun City with friends, trips which left the family in debt.

In an interview with The Voice, Tsholofelo was quick to point out that infidelity was not the reason he split up with his wife.

“There was dishonesty in dealing with finances. It was bad, police were knocking and it was beginning to affect everybody,” confirmed Tsholofelo, who is also the Evangelical Fellowship Botswana (EFB) Secretary.

The Pastor stressed the decision did not come easy as he had to consider his children, church and everyone who looked up to him.

“Divorce affects a lot of people. Kids are the first, and even friends find themselves in an awkward situation because they don’t know who to choose between the divorcing couple.

“My biggest worry now is the many innocent souls who looked up to me. They may lose hope in marriage altogether because their teacher and role model has also failed in marriage,” he said.

Pastor Tsholofelo was so upset by the matter that he has temporarily closed the church branch.

“I thought it was wise to close it until I sorted my personal problems at home. We’ll be back again in January 2020,” he explained.

The Voice reached out to the Pastor’s ex-wife who simply said she did not want to discuss her private life with the media.
“All I can tell you is he’s a good father and a good Pastor. He was also good husband,” was all shows prepared to say.