Religious zeal has since time immemorial shown itself to be a bugbear of society, and South Africa is no exception. There is no section in communities not affected by this passion.
Former chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, in recent media reports, is quoted as suggesting the spirit of God prompts him to become the country’s president. He says he is flooded by calls from people who dream of him being president.
Why? Might this be because of the Christian conservative views he propounds? We might never know.
Religious passions have been inspired by all forms of fears, including that of communism, which in the eyes of religious zealots, is perceived to be a political or economic system that is anti-Christ.
Could it be that Mogoeng harbours such fears? We might never know.
South Africa is a democracy, and not a theocracy, or a system of government in which the church, or priests, or pastors, run the country in the name of God.
The National Party, the political party that engineered apartheid and justified its atrocities in the name of skewed biblical teachings inspired by its narrow Calvinistic fervour, projected the country as if it were a theocracy, where only one form of religion – Christianity – was to be tolerated to thrive.
The preamble in our constitution states, among other things: “We, the people of this country… believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity….”
It is essential to give this background. In the US, several years ago, the chief justice of Alabama state, Roy Moore, kept in his court a biblical display of the 10 Commandments, arguing that the granite stone outside his court on which the commandments were cast, represented the reality that the laws of his state were founded on the principles of the Judeo-Christian faith.
This display of Christian zealotry or authority became an affront to millions of Americans. They demanded their removal as there was an understanding that the country’s constitution, like ours, promotes unity in diversity.
Mogoeng has achieved some success as the head of the judiciary. We don’t doubt that. But his legacy is also one of controversy. We are constrained by space, so we won’t go into detail. The central message, though, is that it would be inconceivable for millions of South Africans to have as their president a person who harbours views such as those expressed by Mogoeng about Israel, unappreciative of the oppression Israel has over the years exerted on the citizens of Palestine.
Mogoeng’s plea to the government to soften its stance on Israel and to reverse its official position on that oppressive country is an affront. Is antithetical to what millions of South Africans think about Israel.
Christians such as Mogoeng should embrace social justice and, like their Master, have the moral conviction to condemn injustice wherever it exists. Mogoeng is entitled to his views. But he will be hard-pressed to find a sizeable constituency to support his presidential candidature in this volatile political climate.
The question is: Does he have the stomach to fight pigs in the mud?
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