Dr Thabisi Hoeane
Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Mogoeng Mogoeng, has recently been engaged in unprecedented public appearances and debates. This is welcome as we need to know how people such as he, who occupy critical and influential positions, think. Gone are the days when they were anonymous in public life and, for senior judicial officers, encountered in court proceedings.
Justice Mogoeng is a man of God and a lay pastor in his church, and there is nothing untoward about that. Thus, sometimes he lurches in this direction in his speeches. But he must draw a distinction between his roles as chief justice and pastor in public appearances. Regrettably, he did not do so in Tembisa recently.
He preached, beseeching God to protect us from vaccines that might be evil. But, Covid-19 has nothing to do with either religion or vaccines. We should leave our religious beliefs out of the debate; their efficacy is to be determined within the province of science, not religious beliefs.
Justice Mogoeng may inadvertently influence religious people, getting them to believe that some vaccines are un-Godly. This will have devastating consequences on society.
The Star