THE humiliation suffered by an AFM Church pastor in Kadoma recently on his wedding day, after he failed to pay maintenance, was loud.
His behaviour shows that we still have a lot of men who are not taking responsibility for their children.
A real father should go out of his way to look after his children.
There is no excuse whatsoever which can make a real man neglect the welfare of his children.
The Kadoma pastor was served with a warrant of arrest a few hours before his wedding.
He was accused of neglecting the welfare of his two minor children aged nine and 14.
The pastor was humiliated on a special day for him and his spouse and their families.
While the wedding managed to go ahead, the embarrassment was loud and clear to everyone who was there.
It’s something that would have been avoided if he had done the right thing.
Despite his divorce, which took place in 2015, the pastor doesn’t need to be reminded that he still has a responsibility to look after his children.
That responsibility didn’t end with his divorce.
His divorce does not mean he should neglect his children.
His children still need him and their bond should grow.
The Kadoma pastor’s issue is a clear reminder to other fathers that it’s a shame for a man to abandon the welfare of his kids no matter the circumstances of the relationship between him and their mother.
Men should know their priorities.
We should not wait to be reminded by the courts to look after our children.
The kids didn’t choose to be born but their father and their mother decided that they needed these blessings.
Fathers should always be there for their children and do their best for them.
Some people, who are not blessed with kids, even end up adopting children.
That is a powerful demonstration of how special children are and it’s then shocking for one to see such flowers being abused by fathers who would have gone rogue.
This should be a lesson to all irresponsible fathers to man up and do their best and give their children a bright future.
For the Kadoma pastor, it’s even worse because of the role he holds in his community.
Because he is a pastor at the AFM Church, it means he is a man who is expected to lead by example.
He is expected to be true to the message he preaches and we will see that, as part of his sermons, he even emphasises on the importance of fathers taking care of their kids.
Now, he finds himself being exposed as a man who says one thing and acts the other way.
He has set a bad precedent for the members of his flock.
Congregants look up to their pastors as role models who should guide them.
However, we should give him a chance to reform.
Like any other person, he has made a serious mistake which has left him with a battered image and bruised ego.