Outcry from Christians about possible removal of holidays
The recent proposal by the South African Law Reform Commission (SALRC) to remove Good Friday and Christmas as public holidays on the calendar, has sparked an outcry from the Christian community.
MBOMBELA – The recent proposal by the South African Law Reform Commission (SALRC) to remove Good Friday and Christmas as public holidays on the calendar, has sparked an outcry from the Christian community.
According to the SALRC, an advisory statutory body responsible for identifying and revising laws that are at odds with the Constitution, there is an element of prejudicial treatment in that the two main Christian holidays are declared as paid public holidays and supporters of other religions who celebrate other faith-based holidays, are disadvantaged in that theirs are not declared public holidays and they do not have an automatic benefit of pay.
In a discussion paper, the SALRC consequently suggests that either these holidays be reviewed, or that equal weight be placed on holidays of other faiths.
This is not the first time Christians have raised concern about changes made regarding the public holidays. After South Africa gained democracy in 1994, the calendar was changed to include days that would apparently be meaningful to all citizens of the country.
Ascension Day was completely removed and Easter Monday was changed to Family Day, leaving only two Christian holidays on the calendar.
Responding to the discussion paper, a group of Christians in Bushbuckridge which calls itself Peace-Loving Christian South Africans is mobilising believers from all corners of South Africa to fight against what it refers to as the betrayal of the voting Christian majority by the South African government.
“We are collecting signatures from all South Africans who are 16 years and above who say ‘no’ to this harassment and these will be hand-delivered to the SALR in Centurion before May 31, 2015,” said the executive committee member, Mr Faniki Mashele.
He further said that apart from the signatures, they were requesting all Christians to engage in mass prayer and fasting all over Bushbuckridge and elsewhere from May 18 to 24 starting from the morning to 17:00 to fend off this “satanic attack” on Christianity.
“First it was Ascension Day they took away, now it’s Good Friday and Christmas. Next it will be Sunday to be removed, and after all these are gone it will become illegal in South Africa to be a Christian or even to read the Holy Bible. Our Good Friday and Christmas should be left untouched,” he added.
The group said that it was determined to fight for Ascension Day to be brought back. It also said that certain holidays like Youth Day that have served their purpose, are slowly becoming redundant and should be removed.
On May 21 the group will march to the Thulamahashe Magistrate’s Court to show its concern about this proposal.
