DURBAN - There has been mixed reaction from churches after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Sunday that religious gatherings would now be allowed under lockdown level 1.
Ramaphosa said gatherings will be permitted, subject to limitations on size, adherence to social distancing and other health protocols. They include religious, social, political and cultural gatherings.
The maximum number of people allowed at any gathering is 100 indoors or 250 outdoors. The regulations state that where the venue is too small to accommodate these numbers with appropriate social distancing, no more than 50% of the capacity of the venue may be used.
While the churches welcomed that gatherings could now be held, especially during Easter, they were disappointed about the limit on the number of people allowed to attend.
Reverend Zakes Jali, spokesperson for the South African National Church Forum (SANCF), said churches should be able to have their routine Passover events.
“Last year all these were cancelled because we were in lockdown alert Level 5, but currently we’ve been moved from Level 3 to Level 1 and religious gatherings are allowed with a maximum of 100 people indoors and 250 people outdoors depending on venue size with regards to 50% capacity.
“At SANCF we believe this is a punishment for the church at large – what must we do with member number 101?
“With the arrival of vaccines and the experience of people, we firmly believe that religious gatherings can be able to social-distance, wear masks, sanitise, even at full capacity. Just like we do when we take flights and travel by public transport,” he said.
Jali said: “So as the SANCF president, Bishop JM Mashashane, rightfully prophesied, the second wave has passed and the vaccines are being rolled out, so the Passover celebrations will be celebrated, unlike in 2020. We might just have to do this under the new normal of wearing masks.
“As always we will continue to encourage and expect our members to adhere to the health protocols in place, even though we wish we were allowed to be at full capacity,” Jali added.
Bishop Linda Mandindi of the Natal Coastal District of the Methodist Church said the church had accepted that circumstances were different due to the Covid-19.
“Times have changed, we now live on shifting sand, the ground doesn’t hold any longer for people to live life as we wish. The church has to operate as the ground has shifted and it calls us to play an advocacy role in conscientising its members and the community at large and we cannot do church as we did before Covid19.”
Mandindi said the Methodist church welcomed the new regulations of lockdown level 1 which allowed for gatherings, but were slightly disappointed.
“We hoped there may be a change because the previous level 3 we came from allowed more members indoors, but the president has been advised based on scientific evidence and we are happy to abide by the regulations in our efforts to save lives.
“The Methodist Church SA in the Natal Coastal area have agreed that ministers on the ground will stagger their services. For example, if we had a large church that accommodates 500 people, we would have staggered services at 7am, 1pm and 6pm, to break down the numbers and even spread it over days.”
Mandindi said the regulations were an opportunity to look at how churches could do things differently.
“We have to learn, unlearn and relearn! Big gatherings are not allowed, we want to preserve lives and avoid anything that could harm or put our members at risk.
“We place total responsibility and accountability with our ministers, worship is filled with spiritual and emotional activities, there will still be excitement leading up to Easter, we will celebrate but with caution and mitigate any risk,” he added.
The Mercury