Christian forum to challenge church closures in court

The South African National Christian Forum (SANCF) has filed papers in the High Court in Johannesburg to challenge the lockdown regulations that have closed churches.

The urgent application, filed against Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma on Friday, wants the regulations closing churches declared irrational and unconstitutional.

Under the adjusted level 3 restrictions announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa on 11 January, all public gatherings, except for funerals, were prohibited.

The application claimed the closing of churches has left “spiritual workers in hunger, together with their families”.

The organisation said it has witnessed “a number of suicides committed out of distress of failing to feed families and a society that believes in prayer losing heart”.

The SANCF said the closures were irrational and unconstitutional because, although gatherings have been prohibited, casinos, cinemas and restaurants were still permitted to trade.

In an affidavit by SANCF president Bishop Marothi Mashashane, the forum argued that the same social distancing and hygiene measures implemented at these businesses could be practised at religious gatherings.

The organisation added that the decision to close churches is “based on nothing but discrimination on the grounds of favouring the gatherings that make money and disadvantaging religious gatherings because they generate no income for GDP”.

The SANCF has requested that the application be heard tomorrow or as soon as possible thereafter.