"Can we look at your financial statements? " is an odd question to ask a preacher. It turns out that few faith-based bodies are asked this by anyone outside their organisation. They were mostly unsure how to respond.
The responses from religious organisations varied from complete avoidance of any discussion of money matters by the Nan Hua Buddhist Temple to the submission of figures by the Catholic Diocese of Johannesburg, the Apostolic Faith Mission of SA and the Methodist Church of Southern Africa.
The Anglican Church of Southern Africa and Hindu Maha Sabha provided information but not detailed annual reports. The Muslim Judicial Council promised on several occasions to provide information, but this was not forthcoming by the time the FM went to press. Little could be extracted from the Zion Christian Church.
The federated nature of religious organisations that have churches and regions operating almost semiautonomously meant the controlling bodies did not have figures for the whole of SA. The Southern Africa Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC), for instance, is more of an advisory body than a controlling one.
The controlling bodies vary greatly in financial resources. The Methodists control a pension fund valued at more than R700m. But the Hindus have only one salaried person. "The secretary-cum-telephonist-cum-receptionist... earns a miserly R3 025/month with a 13th cheque," says Hindu Maha Sabha president Ashwin Trikamjee.
Getting an overall picture of religious financing may have been difficult but there were some surprising governance structures inside these organisations. Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) treasurer Pastor Peter de Witt say its ministers work directly for the AFM communities, which assess their performance and can fire them.
De Witt says the AFM also strongly encourages its communities not to have a minister chair the committee that oversees the community's activity, because the minister would then head the body assessing his performance.
Ministers in the AFM also require what amounts to a licence to operate in the church. If they are found to have contravened church rules, this licence can be revoked.
The difficulty of churches having unequal distribution of skills when it comes to dealing with money matters also came up. The SACBC's Father Chris Townsend says some parishes might have the luxury of having an actuary handling their finances, but others might not have anyone remotely qualified.
The Catholic Diocese of Johannesburg, for instance, saw 23 of its 109 parishes not submitting tax returns on time for the 2006 tax year.
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