The South African Community of Faith-Based Fraternals and Federations (Sacoff) became the second religious organisation to take issue with the Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL) Rights Commission’s call for churches to be registered and regulated by law.
The commission made its suggestion after the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) released a report this week detailing serious corruption at the department of home affairs, where permits were being sold for cash and officials were working alongside criminal networks.
The SIU report cited a number of prominent foreigners who obtained their permits to live in South Africa by dubious means, including Malawian pastor and fugitive from justice Shepherd Bushiri and Nigerian televangelist Timothy Omotoso.
On Thursday, Freedom of Religion South Africa said systemic corruption in the department of home affairs should not result in a call for or justification for state regulation of religion.
Sacoff said South Africans had every reason to be outraged by what the SIU uncovered at home affairs. However, it said that those were governance failures within home affairs — not evidence that churches lacked oversight or that faith communities required increased state control.
“As faith leaders, we do not defend corruption. We do not minimise wrongdoing. We do not excuse criminality, whether in government or in religious settings,” Sacoff president Bert Pretorius said.
He said the corruption uncovered at home affairs called for reform, transparency and real consequences. “It does not justify shifting blame onto the church or expanding state control over religious freedom.”
Pretorius said if an individual who called themselve a pastor committed fraud, sexual abuse, trafficking or financial crime, the criminal justice system must deal with it.
“Religious freedom has never been a shield against prosecution. South Africa already has a robust legal framework to address wrongdoing, including fraud statutes, immigration laws, anti-corruption provisions, financial regulation, labour law, child-protection legislation and criminal codes.”
These laws applied equally to everyone.
Pretorius said the narrative that the religious sector operated without accountability was inaccurate and unfair.
“Across South Africa, churches, mosques, temples and synagogues operate within structured governance systems. Denominations have councils, synods, assemblies and disciplinary processes.”
Pretorius said independent churches operated within fraternals and networks, and that the state must prosecute crime and reform its departments when they failed or fell short.
“But it must emphatically not decide who is authorised to preach, pastor or prophesy.”
TimesLIVE
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.