2019 Elections: Politicians hoping for endorsement from churches at Easter may find them hard going on the campaign trail By Ferial Haffajee ferialhaffajee
South Africa is a profoundly religious country with 44-million people identifying as Christian in the General Household Survey of 2013. The major political parties will all call in on churches this weekend. On Good Friday and on Saturday, President Cyril Ramaphosa will stop at three churches and hold an additional meeting with religious and traditional leaders as he hits the campaign trail in KwaZulu-Natal. His deputy, David Mabuza will attend the Easter Sunday Pilgrimage at Moria, Limpopo.
One of the factors which turned around the politics in the ANC from the State Capture of former president Jacob Zuma to the reform Presidency of Cyril Ramaphosa was a campaign against State Capture started by Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana, the general-secretary of the South African Council of Churches . The ACDP’s election manager Grant Haskin says they have had a surge in membership, notably in the Western Cape “from a few thousand to 50,000 members”.
Another party closely aligned to the churches is the African Transformation Movement which is best known for its candidate Mzwanele Manyi who is closely aligned to the Gupta family.
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