The protest against false prophets dubbed #FakeProphetsMustFall is raging on and what many had seen as the poorly attended march in Braamfontein‚ Johannesburg was a spark that ignited a large fire.
It was reported that hardly fifty people pitched up to protest against the rise and fame of false prophets which has become a serious issue for society and government.
The unprecedented move to take to the streets by the few that braved it seems to have broadened the coalition of victims from across the country who are now coming together to gather with purpose.
Speaking at a press conference held after receiving the memorandum from the victims of false prophets.
The chairperson of the CRL Rights Commission, Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva said:
“We have said we can’t play nice when people’s lives are at stake. Time to play nice is over. It’s time for us all to start this revolution to support this movement, to say all these false prophets must be helped through legislation to walk away and find other jobs. ”
The much against false prophets have also caught the interest of international media and sparked great debate on social media and Christian groups across the world with some questioning if this was the best way to resolve issues.
One of the organisers vowed:
“Many people have assumed that the low-turnout to the protest March on Wednesday 14th which was dubbed the March Against False Prophets, was the end of the war, that is far from the truth. This war just got started the march was just a spark to ignite a great fire. This is by no means over,”
Earlier on Eliot Buthane who represented Martins Antonio in High Court in Pretoria against Prophet Shepherd Bushiri’s team who said that he should not use defamatory terms on their posters during the event about the prophet had lashed out at false prophets.
“You women that are victimised in your churches‚ speak out. Speak and speak out. There is no prophet that has got power over your life. If a prophet can prophesy and say to you‚ ‘you are going to die’‚ you must know that that is Satanism. It has got nothing to do with God and His kingdom.
“If Bushiri is one of those false prophets who are sexualising women in his congregation. If Bushiri is one of those prophets who go and lure money for people to meet with him‚ then this march is about him too,” said Buthane‚ who got one “Hallelujah” from the crowd.
Buthane went on to name a number of prophets and challenged them to come join him in the fight against false prophets if they are genuine servants of the gospel.
“If you don’t want to be associated with these ones [false prophets]‚ join us. Silence will then mean betrayal. You must tell your congregants that they must join us. If you are indeed willing to fight false prophecy under the name of the kingdom [of God]‚ then you must join us‚” Buthane said.
A low turnout might have been registered, but politically speaking, that is the kind of breakwater that can dash the strongest wave. In an age of supposed apathy and Twitter-sized attention spans, the spectacle of so much humanity rising in dissent makes for striking imagery. It also sent a message.
As others have pointed the key to change of any sort is that sort of continued engagement among the people. That it had a low turnout might be withering to the justified movements and causes, but the sustained action is the real question.
History offers several examples of oft-dubbed ‘minor’ protests that proved consequential. We believe this defiant but peaceable assembly of South Africans victims of prophetic practices and abuses and their supporters who suffered stifling clerical heat will continue to confound critics and will help prod new passages of civil rights legislation that will govern clerical conduct.