The Progressive Health Forum says Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng should vacate his position.
This comes after his remarks on COVID-19 vaccines. Mogoeng prayed against corruption and COVID-19 vaccines, which he warned might seek to harm people. While answering questions at the release of the judiciary annual report for 2019/2020, Mogoeng said he was praying that God would to destroy any vaccine containing “666” – numbers Christians believed to be the mark of the devil.
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The association’s founder Dr Aslam Dasoo says Mogoeng took his comments too far. “This is not an attack on his rights to hold an opinion or to hold any faith and to profess it but he is always the Chief Justice on any public platform and he should comport himself accordingly,” he said.
“This is an issue of professionalism and ethics and I think he has breached both in this regard.” The Chief Justice defended his remarks during a briefing last week, saying he will not compromise his religion for anyone.
“I’m not going to be begging for permission to pray – never. In public and in private, I’m going to pray all the more. It is my Constitutional right – I am a Christian and I am not going to be hypocritical.
“Being a robust Christian in public and in private, I pretend, maybe so that when I deliver judgments that are in line with my Christian principals, people cannot spot it. I’m not that guy. We need to be open and we need to be transparent and that’s where I am,” he said.
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The President of the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) Dr Glenda Gray has also slammed Mogoeng saying he should keep his religious beliefs to himself when representing the State.
“We live in a secular society and have a secular government; State and church are separate. You need to keep your religious opinions to yourself when representing the state. Also, you should not get yourself embroiled in conspiracy theories,” Gray commented to African News Agency (ANA) over the weekend.
