ACDP South AfricaVerified account

The ACDP condemns the remarks made by the EFF CIC Julius Malema today, lambasting the President of the Republic for reopening inter alia, the churches during alert level 3 of #LockdownSA - Bongani Luthuli, NEC member. https://cutt.ly/IyGljCF 

Calling on the people of South Africa not to go to church because they are “likely to die", then waxing lyrical about the church not contributing to the economy of this country exposes his open hatred for the church & ignorance of the church & it’s role. https://cutt.ly/IyGljCF 

First and foremost, the church as a Body consists of people as congregants. These congregants are economically active during the week and do not live in church but are contributing members of society who pay taxes amongst other responsibilities of citizens.

Secondly, many churches are registered as Public Benefit Organizations and thus duly pay relevant taxes. Thirdly, churches are places of employment directly employing staff and through the many external service providers they engage.

President Ramaphosa recently hailed the support religious and faith-based organizations have given the nation during this pandemic. While politicians have squandered & misappropriated food parcels, churches have reached out and performed various humanitarian interventions.

He cannot use the Bloemfontein infections as support for his contention that churches should not be opened, when at the time this gathering happened the country was not on lockdown and the country had not been inducted in how to properly react to curb the spread of this virus

The situation is different today. We all know what to do to take safety precautions. The Minister has also handed down regulations specifically dealing with Alert level 3 which will be strictly complied with during church services.

If people can gather for a funeral, all 50 of them, why should they not gather for a church service? - Bongani Luthuli, NEC member. https://cutt.ly/IyGljCF