The South African Council of Churches (SACC) hosted a silent protest against COVID-19 corruption outside St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town on Tuesday, September 15.
The protest is under the banner “Corruption is not our heritage” and forms part of a countrywide campaign for Heritage Month.
“We are calling it a ‘performance of silence’ because the churches are speechless at this level of revolting fraud,” said Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana, General Secretary of the SACC.
The campaign follows the moral call against COVID-19 corruption issued on August 7 this year, by the group of six organisations who call themselves the Moral Call Collective. The collective is made up of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution, the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, the Foundation for Human Rights, the Nelson Mandela Foundation, and the South African Council of Churches.
“As the SACC we have dedicated this Heritage month to a campaign that will denounce corruption as being part of the South African identity. We are saying as the churches, and active citizens, that we refuse for our nation’s culture and heritage to be one of stealing, and defrauding of public resources. Corruption, especially this blatant looting of COVID-19 funds that has been reported, is criminal and continues to cost us lives and livelihoods as a country,” said Bishop Mpumlwana.
The National Church Leaders stood in silence for an hour and carried anti-corruption messages on placards, with the hashtag #CorruptionIsNotMyHeritage. They staged their silent performance in front of various key national and provincial locations, including the St Georges Cathedral and the Union Buildings where the SACC General Secretary lead that performance.
Source: Cape Town ETC
