Thousands of Christians are expected to join the Western Cape Provincial Christian March to Parliament on Thursday to defend religious freedom and oppose state regulation of the Church.
The response on the ground has been overwhelming, said Apostle Siniko Nxesi a media spokesman of SA Church Defenders which is organising the march. He said by Tuesday afternoon 3 000 people had registered to be bussed to the event. Thousands more, including those travelling by bus and others making their own transport arrangements, were expected to swell the numbers by Thursday, he said.
He expected they would match or exceed the turnout for the SA Church Defenders-led march to the Union Buildings in Pretoria on October 8 which was attended by about 5 000 people.
Nxesi said that in recent meetings in Cape Town, there had been huge buy-in from White, Coloured and Black communities, to stand together against a perceived attack on the Church led by the CRL Rights Commission.
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He said leaders from all of the communities attended a joint meeting last week to show support and solidarity. “There’s neither Jew nor Gentile in this. We are all believers in Christ. This goes across racial lines, across denominations, above doctrinal differences.
He said that despite all that CRL chair Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva has said against the Church “there’s one thing that she was was able to do and that we should appreciate her for, and that was to unite us as the Body of Christ”.
Nxesi said SA Church Defenders are working closely with Freedom of Religion South Africa which is assisting them with a legal case they are preparing to challenge the establishment of the Section 22 Committee.
In a Facebook video encouraging Christians to attend the march on Thursday, Bishop Barry Isaacs, chairman of the Concerned clergy and Christians in the Western Cape and head of Christians United for Africa, says:” We need to be there in the thousands to let government know that the Church is alive and that we are not going to be taking these things that are impacting our ministries in a negative way. There are laws that can deal with criminal issues, whether it be in the Church or pastors going astray and doing weird stuff. There are laws that can deal with that, but the Church can regulate itself, and we are saying so.”
Marchers will assemble at 10am on Thursday at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, District Six campus, from where they will leave for Parliament where they will hand over a memorandum to a representative of the Government.
According to a recent SA Church Defenders press release they are demanding immediate disbanding of the bogus Section 22 Committee; removal and investigation of CRL chair Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva for misconduct and abuse of office; restoration of the CRL Rights Commission’s independence and alignment with its true mandate to protect – not persecute religious freedom; and a public, parliamentary review of all CRL actions and committees established under the current chair’s tenure.
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