Church pastors, perhaps stung by reduced cash collections during services, are marching to the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Sunday in what they are calling “a national Christian mass protest”.
Church services have been affected by Covid-19 lockdown rules that limit the number of worshippers who can attend at the same time.
Last month, President Cyril Ramaphosa moved South Africa – which is in the third wave fuelled by the Delta variant – from alert level four to a less restrictive alert level three of the lockdown.
Under level three, gatherings are allowed, but they are limited to a maximum of 50 people indoors and 100 people outdoors.
Where the venue is too small to accommodate these numbers with appropriate social distancing, then no more than 50 percent of the capacity of the venue may be used.
Some pastors complain that the lockdown rules have seen their churches closing down.
There have been reports of church services being disrupted by the police and pastors being arrested for breaking lockdown rules.
With limited congregations It follows that the money collected during services has dwindled to a point where some pastors feel the church is “under attack”.
Pastor Jay has posted a video rallying all Christians to join him in the protest planned for Sunday.
