Mngxitama wonders why ‘white’ churches haven’t been shut down too

Black First, Land First leader Andile Mngxitama took to Twitter on Sunday night to congratulate those who had shut down televangelist and pastor Tim Omotoso’s Jesus Dominion International church in Port Elizabeth.

Omotoso stands accused of 63 main charges and 34 alternative counts which include human trafficking, rape, sexual assault, racketeering, and conspiracy in aiding another person to commit sexual assault.

A civil society group calling itself Nelson Mandela Bay Citizens In Unity, comprising members of organisations including the ANC Youth League (ANCYL), ANC Women’s League (ANCWL), Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) and the South African Students’ Congress (Sasco), had protested for the Port Elizabeth branch of the church, one of many across the country, to be shut down.

READ MORE: Mngxitama accuses Ramaphosa and Malema of lying about land

They succeeded after raising zoning issues that led to the metro police and SAPS finding that the branch did not have a license to operate as a church, which coupled with angry protests outside the premises on Sunday, ensured that a service could not proceed.

While Mngxitama was one of many prominent South Africans celebrating the shutdown of the church, he then proceeded to express views on the topic that appear to be entirely his own.

The BLF leader asked if those behind the shutdown were now planning to stage similar shutdowns of the Roman Catholic church and Church of England, adding that a failure to do so would indicate that those churches are “ok” because they are “white.”

Both the Roman Catholic Church and Church of England have recently been the target of damning reports released this year looking into both allegations of sexual abuse of children and the cover-up of such allegations.

A report released in September on child abuse in Germany’s Catholic Church found that the abuse of 3,600 people by 1,670 clergy members was documented between 1968 and today.

Earlier this year, in June, another report found that the Church of England had disregarded the majority of its child sex cases, with over 100 cases dismissed and just a few investigated.

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