Township councillors and residents apparently have no clue what development entails. This is evidenced by the allocation of all available spaces in the townships, especially Soweto, to mushrooming charismatic churches, without even tendering them out for business proposals.

Township councillors and residents apparently have no clue what development entails. This is evidenced by the allocation of all available spaces in the townships, especially Soweto, to mushrooming charismatic churches, without even tendering them out for business proposals.

Spaces that could be used for income earning and other social development projects are simply made available for modern-day missionary land-grabbing schemes. Over the last 400 years indigenous South Africans have lost their land to missionaries and this seems to be repeating itself because of our councillors' and people's lack of vision.

Look also at the invasion of the vast township buying market by white-owned retail outlets without any competition from local aspirant business- people. Maybe our people need company and partnership-formation training so that they can pool whatever resources they have and get into business.

People do not earn a living by attending church. It's about time local authorities looked into the church land-grabbing issue seriously, lest it become a money-laundering and pyramid scheme in disguise.

Are we so spiritually poor that we need a church at every street corner? What is this competition for our souls all about? Where are the playgrounds, tennis courts, training centres for youth, nurseries and other such facilities?

Mtutuzeli MatshobaJohannesburg