LGBT activists have hailed the decision by Botswana to deport homophobic US pastor Steven Anderson as a victory for the country’s constitution.
In a radio interview Anderson called for the killing of gays and lesbians. Police then arrived at the radio station and initiated a deportation procedure.
He reportedly also used the radio appearance in Botswana to call for paedophiles and adulterers to be killed and to say that the Bible barred women from preaching in church. He also claimed that he had reached Botswana by way of Ethiopia.
Anderson, of the Faithful Word Baptist Church in Arizona, notoriously welcomed the gunning down in June of 50 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida by saying “there’s 50 less paedophiles in this world”.
President Ian Khama told the Reuters news agency that he had personally ordered his arrest.
Khama said that Anderson had been put on a visa watch-list after he was previously refused a visa to visit South Africa. But Anderson and his 17-person entourage apparently managed to cross into Botswana before border guards had been alerted to their status.
Onkokame Mosweu, a commentator on gay and lesbian affairs, commended the government for taking action to deport Anderson, but also said that the controversial pastor “should have never been allowed to come to Botswana in the first place.”
