Angus Buchan’s excuses of why he cancelled next year’s prayer meeting

Evangelist Pastor Angus Buchan has cancelled a prayer session that was due to take place in February 2020 at Loftus Versfeld following outrage over his remarks that only Jewish and Afrikaners shared a covenant with God.

At a press briefing held in Centurion on Monday, Buchan said he was “very sorry” for his remarks and asked the nation to forgive him, reports Pretoria East Rekord.

“I am very sorry for what has taken place. I apologise, I repent and I renounce the idea of any special nation. I, therefore, ask your forgiveness,” he said.

Buchan on Tuesday expressed his anxiety over the current drought gripping South Africa and went a step further to explain that his comments were made due to his frustrations over intense dry conditions.

IOL reports that Buchan said he intended to sympathise with those hardest hit by the drought.

ALSO READ: ‘I hereby repent’ – Angus Buchan cancels ‘Jewish and Afrikaans nations’ meeting

“Thirty-odd years ago on the 6th of April, I made another honest mistake. Taking my only brother’s youngest son Alastair for a ride on our big green tractor, the boy fell forward and went under the rear wheel of the tractor. He was crushed on that farm road, he died in my arms.”

“Then I asked my brother to forgive me for the terrible mistake I made, fortunately, he did.”

In a sound clip tweeted by the EEF’s Floyd Shivambu, the pastor said he was inviting everyone to a prayer meeting which would be held at the Loftus Versveld, but the emphasis would be placed on the Afrikaans nation.

“We are going to call out to God remembering that only two nations in the world have ever been in covenant with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They are the Jewish people and the Afrikaans people, that is fact,” he said.

The recording has since caused a stir on social media, with some labelling Buchan a “racist”.

Some have chosen to forgive him saying that he had made a mistake.

In his apology, Buchan said he was fully committed to supporting the authority which God has put in place, “namely our President Cyril Ramaphosa and his government”.

“In Romans 13, we are instructed to obey and fully support the law,” he said.

“I will, therefore, continue with all my heart to work towards bringing the entire nation of South Africa to unity with each other, and with our God.”

“We have come a long way as a nation to be where we are today and my utterances and actions are sincerely regrettable. Having met with the Christian Leaders Forum today [Monday], I asked for forgiveness for the utterances I made and hereby repent.”

Buchan is not the first pastor to mention the weather in explicit and hateful comments.

Last year, Cape Town pastor Oscar Bougardt attacked the city’s LGBTQ community, blaming gay and lesbian residents for the crippling drought, which nearly saw taps run completely dry in the region.

In a detailed South African Human Rights Commission article, it was reported that Bougardt said that God’s discontent for the “perversion” of homosexuality and refusal to accept “the lifestyle of the sodomites as normal” was the reason why the drought and natural disasters occurred.

He even blamed the Knysna fires of 2017 on the LGBTQ community, saying that this was because the city hosted the annual Pink Loerie LGBTQ festival. This, he said, was God’s revenge for it being a “gay city”.

Additional reporting by Nica Schreuder

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