Fear at probe into religion

Apprehension as commission starts ‘investigative study’ into commercialisation of faith institutions

SUPPRESSION, witch-hunts and a covert government plan to heavyhandedly control faith are some of the fears religious leaders have over an “investigative study” into the commercialisation of religion and healing.

These misgivings relate to a study by the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities.

Speaking at an information-sharing meeting with religious and traditional leaders in Phoenix last week, evangelist Mervin Reddy said “corridor talk” had been that the commission was out to “hunt and close down” churches because it was believed the government was becoming “antiChristian”.

The founder of Christian Revival Centre, Dr Paul Lutchman, accused the commission of duplicating the work of the taxman, saying if the commission wanted to check their finances they should go to the South African Revenue Service (Sars).

Apostle Bheki Buthelezi questioned the commission’s “qualifications” to investigate the religious fraternity, asking whether any of them had the theological knowledge and expertise to question them.

Bishop TB Ngcobo agreed, saying the commission did not understand the doctrines of the different churches.

“We are scared. When your submissions reach Parliament, they will become law and we can’t change the law. The religious sector will find itself oppressed, we’ve seen it done in other countries,” Ngcobo said.

The acting chief executive of the commission, Edward Mafadza, explained that the purpose of the study was to investigate and understand issues around religion and traditional beliefs. This included the worrisome practices of congregants being made to eat grass, snakes or rats, the “supermarket approach” (with card swiping machines at places of worship) and the abuse of people’s faith. The underlying issues driving people to buy into the promises of riches and miracle cures would also be probed.

“There must be serious issues, perhaps desperation or poverty, which make our people vulnerable to doing these things.

“To believe someone when they say petrol tastes like juice for example. If that is the case, why do we spend money on petrol and not run cars on juice?” Mafadza said.

Like the South African Human Rights Commission and the Office of the Public Protector, the commission was established under chapter nine of the constitution.

Its enabling act allows it to subpoena people to appear before it.

“This is to ensure there is no wasteful expenditure for us to make provision for a certain number of people and have only a few come.”

The subpoena, by virtue of which the commission could press criminal charges against those who fail to appear as summoned, was a particular bone of contention.

Mafadza said: “We have taken advice to write a letter inviting people to the commission and advising them they will be subpoenaed because we understood that the subpoena caused some agitation.”

He said they were guided by the South African Charter of Religious Rights and Freedoms and it was not for them to challenge doctrines or tell leaders how to practise their religion or tradition.

“We are concerned with governance issues, processes followed, financial management and whether you are trained or ordained by another person or an institution.

“The commission will ask you if you are registered as an NPO. If not, we will recommend that you do, but we won’t arrest you for that,” Mafadza said.

Mafadza said more Christian leaders would be summoned than others because the faith had an overwhelmingly high presence.

“The reason we have not summoned the Muslim faith yet is because we have not been to Cape Town where they have their headquarters. Same with the Zion Christian Church in Limpopo.”

He said aiming at headquarters made sense as they could account for all their branches around the country.

“The chief rabbi appeared before the commission in Gauteng as well as the Rastafarians and Catholic leaders… we have an agreement with the National House of Traditional Leaders.

“They are all tarnished when people are killed for muti. The media will also be summoned. The aim is to proactively and reactively protect and promote religious and cultural rights,” said Mafadza.

African religious leader Themba Shangase thanked the commission for “settling the dust” by explaining its intention as did Pastor Nathi Zondi, who said the “uproar” and defensive stance had been caused by a lack of clarity on the purpose of the study.

A final report is expected to be completed by April and be presented to Parliament with recommendations for “self regulation” in the sectors.

Hearings started in KwaZulu-Natal in October.