Zimpapers Logo

Dr Masimba Mavaza

Since xenophobic violence erupted in South Africa a lot of crimes against humanity have been witnessed.

The targets are individuals who migrated from all over Africa in search of asylum some for economic improvements. Emerging first in township communities around Johannesburg, the aggression spread to other provinces.

This is when you are treated differently because of your religion or belief, or lack of religion or belief. The treatment could be a one-off action or as a result of a rule or policy. It does not have to be intentional to be unlawful.

Naome Matanda woke up in the morning and prepared her children for church. She attends on of the indigenous churches. Her church is one of the Mapositori churches which have flourished in Zimbabwe.

Naome took her two children aged ten and eleven. She has great respect for her church and the church service. Everything which is done at church is sacred.

On this day Naome took the front seat. She had issues she wanted the prophet to pray for.  She sat down joining the congregation in songs. The prophets and some elders had taken few steps away to prepare for the divine service.

It was the most holy time of the church. As most indigenous churches the prayer place was an open space. Where they have nature join them in worship.

They sing together with birds and insects in the natural world.

As they were carried in spirit the devil appeared unannounced

A group of men armed with knobokerries and machetes some with guns came towards them. With great disregard of the service and religious process they ordered the congregation to go and have their worship on Zimbabwe.  I was shocked to see this.

Respect for religious diversity is an essential element of any peaceful society, and religious freedom is a universal human right that all states have a responsibility to uphold.

I expected the South Africans to live up to their obligations and to hold accountable those who seek to restrict the freedom of religion. What we experienced was total humiliation. The group started pushing people away. The prophets who were preparing to officiate were told to leave it they will be bent alive.

Too many people around the world face the threat of prosecution from blasphemy and apostasy laws, which governments frequently use to shield themselves from legitimate criticism, and fellow citizens use as weapons in private disputes.

The South African government routinely fails to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of sectarian crimes, leading to a climate of impunity that breeds violent extremism.  These trends must be reversed if we are to realize sustainable peace in this world. But the South Africans had no respect for our religion our beliefs.

I noted with particular concern the worsening plight of religious minority communities in South Africa South African officials continue to restrict the foreigners communities’ freedom to practice their religious beliefs free from harassment, threat, or intimidation.

The continuing harsh treatment at the hands of Dudula exemplifies this trend. What is happening in South Africa must to cease immediately its persecution of all religious minority communities.

Respect for religious diversity is an essential element of any peaceful society, and religious freedom is a universal human right that all states have a responsibility to uphold.  Not everyone has religious or spiritual beliefs, and that’s fine but disrupting a service is demonic. The important thing is to accept that some people place a lot of importance on this aspect of their lives, and to respect their right to believe whatever they want, even if you don’t agree with them. It would have been better to wait until the service ended.

Thousands of black foreigners have been killed and thousand more displaced and their businesses destroyed.

As the attacks escalated across the country, thousands of migrants searched for refuge in police stations and churches. Chilling stories spread about mobs armed with axes, metal bars, and clubs.

The mobs stormed from shack to shack, assaulted migrants, locked them in their homes, and set the homes on fire. The tragedy of the violence in South Africa is magnified by the fact that many of the victims had fled from violence and persecution in their countries of origin.

Amid genocidal violations of human rights that had recently occurred in some countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the new South Africa stood as a beacon of democracy and respect for human dignity. Although many people fled to South Africa in expectation of a safe and secure future, migrants from other African countries became the targets of blame for many South Africans’ poverty.

All over Africa people struggle to understand the hostility that they are encountering. Although the genesis of xenophobia has often been discussed, the experience of those targeted has seldom been completely ignored.

There is a great challenge to address the divisions that underlie such violence because the violence against the black migrants seem to be allowed to go on.

To add salt to the injury the South African government is complacent to the point of of being accomplices in the crime against humanity.  They have allowed under their watch a  creation of cohesive communities in which the identification of particular groups is replaced by mistrust which feeds in the belief that every black foreigner is an enemy

In the recent weeks Christians were shocked by the profanity displayed by the South Africans against a group of Christian’s who had gathered for worship in the mountain as is the custom of the Mapositori a sect in the Christianity.  Profanity is a Latin word for “profane”. The state of being profane, or “profanity,” refers to a lack of respect for things that are held to be sacred, which implies anything inspiring or deserving of reverence, as well as behaviour showing similar disrespect or causing religious offense.

A group of South Africans Dudula squad were seen in a video doing rounds insulting and disrupting a Mapostori Church service which was in motion. In a way to disregard God and disrespect the religion of the Mapostori the South Africans challenged God himself.

The behaviour of these South Africans is sacrilegious disrespectful of something sacred which is at the dear heart  of these believers. There are plenty of things people hold sacred. Religions have sacred objects, places, people, dates, practices, and rituals. People also have things that are sacred to them, be they religious in nature or not. The one thing all sacred things have in common is that they are respected by the people who hold them sacred, and that respect can be manifested in many ways.

The behaviour of the South Africans has crossed the line. They have committed a serious religious offence, which is an action which offends religious sensibilities and arouses serious negative emotions in people with strong belief.

This group of the South Africans are idiotic religious offenders whose action offends religious sensibilities and arouses serious negative emotions in people with strong belief.

God’s anger is slow to rise but this time this is. Christians in worldwide are being “treated with disrespect” while followers of other faiths are being dealt with more sensitively.

What is happening to the group of Christians in South Africa will never happen to Muslims or any other religions.

It is deeply concerning and the world must be horrified at the apparent discrimination shown against Christians and we call on the government to remedy this serious development.

The apparent discrimination” against Zimbabwean Christians in South Africa is “unacceptable in a civilised society”.

While we ask God to show his presence to the South Africans who have pointed a middle finger to the heavens.

The war the South Africans have started is against God himself. God fights his wars and as Christians we pray for God’s fighting spirit. For how long can we be humiliated and embarrassed even in the comfort of our churches.

Even children as young as five have one thing they wish for with all their might: to leave South Africa for good. South Africa might be the place of their birth and the only country where they have ever lived, but the blood sucking vampires masquerading as patriots have made it difficult to be called home.

Humanity is being taught new lessons of selfishness by the satanic behaviour of our brothers across the Limpopo river.  The South Africans have declared war on civilisation but until when.

Children already know what is to be not wanted and they already know who is theirs and who is not theirs.

The anti Christ has turned out to be our own brother across Limpopo. For how long.

As a people we deserve better.

[email protected]