[ad_1]
Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng prayed against corruption on Thursday; and COVID-19 vaccines, which he warned could try to harm people, raising eyebrows.
FILE: Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng. Image: @ OCJ_RSA / Twitter.
JOHANNESBURG – Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng on Friday defended the content of a sentence he delivered at Tembisa Hospital on Thursday, saying there was nothing wrong with his actions because South Africa is a secular state.
Mogoeng prayed against corruption and COVID-19 vaccines, which he warned could try to harm people.
Answering questions in the release of the judiciary’s annual report for 2019/2020, Mogoeng said that he was praying that God would destroy any vaccine containing “666” – numbers that Christians believe are the mark of the devil.
“I’m not going to beg for permission to pray, ever. In public and in private, I will pray even more. It is my constitutional right: I am a Christian and I will not be a hypocrite. Being a robust Christian in public and in private, I pretend, perhaps so that when I make judgments that are in line with my Christian principles, people cannot detect it. I’m not that boy. We need to be open and we have to be transparent and that’s where I am ”.
The global community is rushing to finalize experiments with various vaccines as more people die from the pandemic, and many countries, including South Africa, are battling a second wave of infections.
LOOK: Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng closes his speech with a prayer for the country. Today he is at the Tembisa Hospital. #SABCNews pic.twitter.com/lpVeRgu9xi
Abongile Dumako (@AbongileDumako) December 10, 2020
Some countries, including the UK, have already started vaccinating.
At the same time, many are expressing concern about how the Chief Justice’s comments will affect the public’s perception of the judiciary.
Chris Oxtoby, Senior Researcher at the Democratic Rights and Governance Unit, said: “I think the position that you hold, as the head of the judiciary and as a very influential person in South Africa, is an important dynamic of that. I just don’t think it’s particularly wise or responsible for those kinds of comments to create some kind of ambiguity about vaccines. ”
The general secretary of the South African Council of Churches, Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana, said that Mogoeng was free to speak on matters outside of office, but that there should always be caution in certain matters.
“There has to be some caution with public announcements that will influence our other roles as public figures.”
Download the EWN app on your iOS or Android device.
[ad_2]
