SEE ALSO: FOR SA responds to Prof Xulu’s resignation: calls for independent inquiry into committee
In a bombshell public announcement today Professor Musa Xulu told media that he has resigned with immediate effect as chairperson of the CRL Rights Commission’s controversial Section 22 Committee on Christian sector abuses.
Flanked by some of the Christian leaders who have, for years, been fighting CRL-driven attempts to impose state regulation of religion, he endorsed what those and other Christian leaders have been saying about CRL chair Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva pushing an irregular and unconstitutional agenda to control the Church.
In a statement he read out at a press conference in Johannesburg, Xulu said: “My appointment [as chairperson of the Section 22 committee], confirmed in writing on 25 April 2025, was clear. I was to chair the Section 22 Committee, to call and preside over its meetings, and to conduct extensive research into abuses within the Christian religious sector, with a view to protecting religious freedom, not undermining it.”
He said that because he “has experience at the intersection of culture, religion, governance, and scholarship” he had felt he “could bring an independent, scholarly, and faith-rooted perspective to a highly sensitive national task”. But he said it seemed he had really been appointed to endorse a process with a concealed agenda to introduce state control of religion – something he opposed.
Among reasons he cited for his decision to resign were:
– threats to his integrity and constitutional values;
– procedural irregularities with his role of chairing meetings regularly hijacked by the CRL chair and with new committee members who were unknown to him showing up at meetings;
– a toxic, exclusionary and intimidating process which marginalised “dissenters” and displayed hostility towards Pentecostal/Charismatic churches;
– racist rants against Freedom of Religion SA executive director Michael Swain;
– misrepresentation of Church support for the CRL’s campaign;
– and the drafting – without any input from himself or approval by the full committee – of a flawed document that included a framework for state regulation of the Church.
The four leaders, who sat at the press conference table with Xulu, Dr Shimmy Kotu of the Anti Regulation of Religion Summit, Pastor Bert Pretorius of the South African Community of Faith-based Fraternals, Thom Thomaga of Without Walls Church, and Apostle Mpfariseni Mukhuba of Unity Fellowship Church and SA Church Defenders, commended him for stepping down from the committee. Thomaga called for the immediate disbanding of the Section 22 committee and for Mkhwanazi-Xaluva to resign as CRL chair. Mukhuba said SACD will continue with its case in the Gauteng High Court calling for the dissolution of the Section 22 committee. She said they would also keep on holding nationwide marches to contend for Christians’ constitutional rights and freedoms.
In his statement [see full statement here] Musa said the CRL chair had regularly usurped his role of chairing meetings. At a meeting in October to launch the Section 22 committee, he was assigned the task of reading out the committee’s terms of reference at a public meeting. As he walked to the podium with the terms of reference document he had received with his appointment letter, a CRL official hurriedly handed him a revised terms of reference document that he had never seen before. “That was embarrassing to me, even a bit dishonest on the part of whoever suddenly came up with new terms of reference.”
Elsewhere in his statement he writes: “I also learned, from Committee members’ admissions to me, that private meetings were taking place between the CRL Chair and selected members outside formal Committee meetings. Dr Rev. John Maloma, who claims to represent TEASA, relayed such information to me, at least once, when I confronted him about his rudeness to me every time I got a small chance to chair a meeting of the Section 22 Committee. This explained the strong synchrony between the CRL Chair’s stated preferences and the positions consistently advanced by a small inner circle within the Committee, particularly on matters relating to regulation and legislative control. My research was ignored. My cautions were dismissed. My leadership role was hollow.”
Asked by Gateway News for a response to Xulu’s press conference, CRL senior manager: media and marketing Mpiyakhe Mkholo said: “A press conference will be held soon to address the numerous untruths by Prof Xulu.”
ACDP welcomes resignation
Meanwhile, the ACDP has welcomed Prof Xulu’s resignation, describing it as “one of the best news that marks the good start of 2026”.
In a statement released today, ACDP president Rev Kenneth Meshoe says: “The ACDP has been concerned about whether the Section 22 Committee members were appointed by a formal resolution of the Commissioners or by Ms Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva alone.
“Prof Xulu has made it clear that he was appointed not by the Commissioners, but by Ms Mkhwanazi-Xaluva alone, and he confirmed that the other Commissioners had been excluded in the process of his appointment.
“The ACDP, along with many others, has raised concerns that Ms. Mkhwanazi-Xaluva seems to be carrying out some functions in an undemocratic manner by failing to consult. A classic example of this is a tendency to intimidate the Church with arrests for failing to register with the CRL that many in the Church do not trust.
“Professor Xulu stated that Ms Mkhwanazi-Xaluva undermined him as the Chairman and totally usurped his powers. She has on multiple occasions denied the fact that the State does not plan to regulate the Church while her utterances pointed to the very fact she denied.
“On behalf of the ACDP, I hereby call for the resignation of the Chairperson of the CRL Rights Commission, Ms. Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva, who has shown some undemocratic tendencies such as, appointing the Section 22 Committee Chairperson without consulting fellow Commissioners.
“We believe that she is unfit for her position and does not positively promote the constitutional mandate of the CRL Rights Commission.”
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I had to search the internet to find out what CRL stands for.
Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Rights Commission.