Members of the so-called Zimbabwean White Church in Tshwane were literally told to pack and go by Progressive Forces of South Africa (PFSA) in Tshwane last week Friday.
The church was preparing to hold a three-day conference in the bushes of Tshwane near Transoranje and N4 highway leading to the Pretoria CBD.
According to PFSA National Organiser Bonang Seboloane, the organisation received a video indicating that Zimbabwean foreigners had erected plus-minus 40 tents at the said area and members of PFSA decided to take along with them the Tshwane Metro Police as well as the local Denville community security structures to see what was actually happening there.
“Upon arrival in the area we found that indeed illegal Zimbabwean foreigners had set up tents to hold what they call a three-day rapture conference which had started last week Thursday and was supposed to end last week Sunday,” explained Seboloane.
Now a dictionary definition of “rapture” suggests that this is a Christian eschatological (end-times) concept whereby believers will be physically transformed and taken to heaven; that they will meet the Lord up in the air.
“We then learned that the said area is where members of the Zimbabwean White Church worship their gods and that they had erected the said tents illegally and we therefore demolished the tents,” she enthused.
“The reason for demolishing the tents is that we believe in the adage that goes ‘when in Rome do as the Romans do’ and these foreigners must not come here with their foreign religion,” fumed Seboloane.
She insisted that foreigners have pledged to integrate themselves into the South African community and must therefore follow established norms and cultural values of the communities that they live in.
“These people call themselves Christians but what is surprising is that we found calabashes, octopus-like structures and shrines, so this means these foreigners are worshipping their Zimbabwean ancestors right here in South Africa and the questions arises as to whether their ancestors are here in South Africa,” said Seboloane.
“As Africans we know that one’s ancestors reside where they have been buried and certainly the ancestors of these foreigners have not been buried in South Africa; so these people are trying to bring foreign spirits into South African communities and cause havoc,” she said.
She revealed that her organisation has also managed to demolish tents of similar Zimbabwean White churches in other places around Tshwane like in Atteridgeville.
“We have now made it our mission to target these Zimbabwean White churches and we would be happy if we can demolish one church every month,” said Seboloane.
“Pretoria will be a no-go area for lawlessness and illegal churches, and our message to statutory bodies like the CRL Rights Commission, whose duty is to regulate church activities, is that they must do their job because South Africans are gullible and will end up joining these illegal churches; get possessed by evil spirits and ultimately get scammed of their money and other possessions,” she enthused.
“If Zimbabweans think their god and their foreign religion are so important, then they must pack up and go back to their country where they will practice their religion freely and make sure that Zimbabwe can change for the better,” she said.