Political parties believe churches and their members will play a critical role, ahead of next year’s elections.
Parties like ATM, which was formed with the backing of the South African Council of Messianic Churches in Christ (SACMCC) said they were looking to large and small churches for support ahead of next year’s ballot.
On Saturday, the party announced it would be trying to expand in KwaZulu-Natal and would do so through the SACMCC and other churches at district and regional level.
ATM provincial leader Apostle Mxolisi Phakathi said churches had taken a back seat after the demise of apartheid and the first democratic elections but failures in leadership meant that churches had to again rise up against “failed leadership and a decline in moral values”.
The party said it would be campaigning in all provinces ahead of its national manifesto launch in December.
“Churches have an important footprint in the country and the SACMCC, a national church, has churches in KZN and throughout the country. The church must come together and be the voice of the country, we are calling on religious leaders to rise up.”
Members of the Shembe Church in KZN, one of the largest churches in the country with hundreds of thousands of followers, launched a political party in August.
It is in the process of registering as a party to contest the 2024 national elections although both the ANC and IFP count on the church members as part of their electoral support.
The visit last month of the Shembe Church Ebuhleni leader, Mduduzi “Unyazi Lwezulu” Shembe to the home of former health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize was seen by some as the ANC’s attempt to appeal to key constituencies before next year’s elections.
In January, DA provincial leader Francois Rodgers met with the Ebuhleni leader to discuss “issues in the province and the pivotal role of religious leaders” in the country.
ACDP leader Reverend Kenneth Meshoe said the church, which had once been the moral conscience against the might of apartheid, had decided to be quiet and had taken a back seat since 1994.
He said the church had been an agency against injustice and had it continued in a similar manner after the advent of democracy, then the country would not be engulfed in so much corruption.
“Corruption and immorality go hand-in-hand and it is regrettable that the church abdicated its responsibility. The church should correct this error and mistakes it has made and take responsibility as it has the moral integrity to lead.
“If it does not, then the country will sink deeper into oblivion,” Meshoe said.
ANC politician Pastor Vusi Dube said the party had recently decided to realign with the church, which played an integral role in the formation of the organisation in 1912.
“We can blame the ANC for the disconnect but we also have to blame churches. Two weeks ago the KZN chairperson (Sboniso Duma) called different church leaders to a meeting at Durban’s Playhouse to talk to them about their role in nurturing the ANC and the politics of the country.
“If you look at the role of the church in the past, people like Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Beyers Naude were a voice of reason and they were not afraid to voice criticism if they felt there was a moral decline.”
Dube said churches must get more involved ahead of next year’s elections and be involved in spiritual guidance, to ensure a peaceful and corruption free ballot.
IFP MPL Reverend Musa Zondi said the criticism that churches had taken a back seat post-apartheid was valid and was a concern raised within some churches.
“The pause in their activism was premised on defeating the common enemy, apartheid, and they hoped that the democratically elected leadership would fill the gap.”