‘I won’t stop praying,’ says Mogoeng after Covid-19 vaccine comments

Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng has defended his prayer caught on camera and widely shared on social media, in which he rebukes Covid-19 vaccines “meant to corrupt” people’s DNA.

At the OCJ for the release of the Judiciary’s annual report. CJ Mogoeng Mogoeng responding to the backlash over his comments yesterday: “I don’t know whether people honestly misunderstood what I said or deliberately misunderstood what I said”. @TheCitizen_News

— Bernadette Wicks (Wolhuter) (@bern_wicks) December 11, 2020

Mogoeng said he had the right to express his beliefs and that “whoever wants to run wild” with his comments “is free to do that”, adding that he would never concern himself with who was happy or displeased by them.

“I am independent-minded. For far too long people have been afraid to express themselves as free and as robustly as they need to. Remember, we just delivered a judgment as the Constitutional Court recently about the fundamental importance of freedom of expression, the EFF judgment.

“So people are not going to be allowed to manipulate us, to force us to tow their line, to think the way they think everybody else in this country and around the world ought to think. I’m not in that category,” Mogoeng said.

ALSO READ: WATCH: ‘Don’t infuse 666 in the lives of people’ – Mogoeng spits fire at Covid-19 vaccine

The chief justice also said he was not worried about the public perception of how a person holding his position “is supposed to behave”.

Mogoeng said South Africa’s Constitution did not demand that the country’s citizens be conformists and that the backlash for his prayer was not unexpected.

“Prayer is very controversial in South Africa, insults are never controversial. No, it’s prayer in the name of Jesus that is controversial, all other prayers are fine,” Mogoeng said.

The chief justice added that he would continue to pray in public and in private as this was his constitutional right.

“I’m a Christian, I’m not going to be hypocritical. Being a robust Christian in private, in public I pretend maybe so that when I deliver judgments that are in line with my Christian principles people cannot spot it. I’m not that kind. We need to be open, we need to be transparent and that’s where I am,” Mogoeng said.

Mogoeng questioned why his Christian beliefs should be separated from his responsibilities as chief justice.

“Where can we look for it in the Constitution or anywhere else? The last time I checked the Constitution, it lists among the fundamental rights, freedom of religion, freedom of opinion and freedom of thought,” Mogoeng said.

The chief justice pointed out that the preamble of the country’s Constitution talked about God and that the national anthem was “a prayer for God to protect us”.

“Some people say we are a secular state. But what is the meaning of a secular state? A secular state that is anti-religion, it is a state that is against the imposition of one religion to the exclusion of others,” Mogoeng said.

With regards to his prayer about the vaccine, Mogoeng said he was not asserting the comments as fact but was aware that “there is a lot of corruption in the world”.

“I said if there is any vaccine that is being manufactured to advance a satanic agenda, if there is any vaccine that’s being manufactured for the purpose of corrupting the DNA of people, that vaccine must burn …”

— Bernadette Wicks (Wolhuter) (@bern_wicks) December 11, 2020

“Look at what allegedly happened to the money that was allocated for the protection of people in this era. What happened? I tell you, if I had prayed openly before allegations of corruption in relation to that manner … if I said, ‘Lord, anybody who is going to be involved in corruption in relation to this money, deal with that person’, you know what the response was going to be? The same people who are asking? ‘Where did you get that information from, that there is corruption in relation to the funding for Covid-19 related matters?'”

Mogoeng said his prayer was a cry to God and whether that was viewed as politics or not, “it’s neither here nor there for me and I won’t stop doing it”.

“If it is politics it’s the kind of politics I’m happy to support .. I never said all vaccines are meant to advance the agenda …”

— Bernadette Wicks (Wolhuter) (@bern_wicks) December 11, 2020

“I’m crying unto God, if there is any vaccine, I don’t want it. I’m crying unto God. These are the end times according to we Christians, so if there is any vaccine with 666, I want God to destroy it. If there is any vaccine meant to corrupt the DNA of the people, I’m asking God [to deal with it],” Mogoeng said.

Mogoeng: “If there is any vaccine that would negatively affect the lives of people, it must never see the light of day”.@TheCitizen_News

— Bernadette Wicks (Wolhuter) (@bern_wicks) December 11, 2020

Mogoeng says: “Any clean vaccine, they must produce quickly. People need it for their health”. @TheCitizen_News

— Bernadette Wicks (Wolhuter) (@bern_wicks) December 11, 2020

Compiled by Makhosandile Zulu

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