I’m not against vaccines, says Chief Justice Mogoeng after uproar

Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng made it clear on Friday he was not against vaccines, despite his controversial prayer against a Covid-19 vaccine “of the devil” which sparked heated online debate this week.

And now, #Africa4Palestine has threatened him with another complaint to the judicial watchdog.

However, an unapologetic Mogoeng – who said he was “misunderstood” – was not backing down on Friday and said the lobby group could keep its complaints coming.

“Let them go ahead and let’s see what will happen,” Mogoeng said at a press briefing at his offices in Midrand to unpack the judiciary’s 2019-2020 annual report.

A video clip of Mogoeng praying passionately during his keynote address at an event at Tembisa Provincial Tertiary Hospital, shot on Thursday, has gone viral on Twitter.

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

“If there be any vaccine that is of the devil, meant to infuse 666 in the lives of people, meant to corrupt their DNA any such vaccine, Lord God Almighty, let it be destroyed by fire,” he said in the clip.

Constitutional law expert Professor Pierre de Vos on Friday said Mogoeng’s comments were problematic on two levels.

“The one relates to freedom of religion,” De Vos said. “If you’re going to have religious observances at state institutions and events, it needs to be equitable and it needs to be voluntary.

“So, there’s the problem of the appropriateness of using an official state function, in your official capacity, to endorse a specific religion and religious view.”

De Vos said this could have a chilling effect on nonbelievers or followers of different religions.

“The second problem is, as a judge, you have to act in an honourable manner, befitting of your judicial office, and you shouldn’t do anything to bring the judiciary into disrepute,” he continued.

“Of course, as a judge you have a right to have a religion and to have it known what your religious views are.

“In this case, though, the chief justice – by declining to answer the question of whether or not he would encourage others to get vaccinated – is giving credence to the conspiracy theories behind vaccines.”

De Vos said it was a “highly controversial” subject.

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

In a statement issued yesterday, #AfricaForPalestine accused Mogoeng of “failing to uphold the integrity of the office and position he holds” and “undermining not only medical science, but also contradicting our government’s position on vaccines.

“We are confident that such outlandish, fanatic speech and denial of medical science during a pandemic is a violation of the code of conduct of the Judicial Service Commission [JSC] which explicitly urges judges to refrain from such controversies,” it said.

The chief justice appeared somewhat taken aback when confronted with the statement at yesterday’s press briefing, saying this was the first he had heard of it.

“I must now be reported to the JSC for praying?” he asked.

Mogoeng said he was entitled to contradict “anybody” – including government. But he also said we lived in a democratic country.

“Any South African who feels aggrieved by what any judge or magistrate – including me – says, must lay complaints,” he said. “Whether the complaints are well founded or not is a matter that will be decided by the relevant structures.”

ALSO READ: Govt warns about vaccine ‘fake news’ after Mogoeng’s comments

In the meantime, he said, he would not be silenced.

“People must be careful about wanting to take us back to the era of colonialism and apartheid, where freedom of thought and opinion was not allowed,” he said.

Mogoeng explained he had been praying against a vaccine with dangerous side-effects and was not against them in principle.

“Any clean vaccine, they must produce that quickly. People need that,” he said.

The social media storm he left in his wake appeared not to have fazed Mogoeng.

“I’m not a conformist. Our country – our constitution – does not demand of us to be that way,” he said.

– bernadettew@citizen.co.za

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