JOHANNESBURG- Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva Chairperson of the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Cultural‚ Religious‚ and Linguistic Rights (CRL) said in a media briefing on Thursday that the CRL has never asked that religion must be regulated.
Mkhwanazi-Xaluva said, “We never proposed religion to be regulated. What we said was that there must be a regulatory framework to stop incidents like Engcobo (police station) from happening‚”
The media briefing was held to address issues around the controversial Mancoba Seven Angels Ministry church in Ngcobo and the report they did on the church.
The church has been put in the spotlight after the suspects involved in the Ngcobo police massacre were members of the church.
Xaluva told the media that CRL is being sued because they warn people about the suspected cult within the church and that people could die if no action was taken, she said, “We knew that some from the religious sector would want to punch holes in the proposals.”
The CRL does not have powers to police what religious bodies do, she continued, “We can only investigate and report. The CRL Act is very prescriptive about what we can do.”
In a 2017 report the CRL found that the Mancoba brothers of Seven Angels Ministries church deemed them “extremists” after they refused to follow instructions.
The Mancoba brothers reportedly told the CRL, the Constitution and the country’s educational system were driven by Satan.
Banele Mancoba‚ leader of the church told the CRL their lack of compliance was due to the fact they did not consider themselves as people of this world.
Photo Credit- Times LIVE
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