Cape Town -
A controversial Khayelitsha clergyman, who drew world attention with his “Jesus had HIV” sermon, is planning to pick up his wooden cross this Easter and march through the streets of Cape Town’s biggest townships to draw attention to harsh living conditions.
Reverend Xola Skosana of the Way of Life Church in Khayelitsha will embark on his annual Easter weekend march from Gugulethu to Mandela Park in Khayelitsha to highlight the plight of the poor, who live in what he describes as “glorified refugee camps and rat-infested hell holes”.
Skosana said he was hoping to “trigger an irrevocable tidal wave of people” who would stand up for the true liberation of township residents. His congregation spoke to the conscience of all political leaders who had failed the people in their “townships of hell”.
“We have not seen enough political will in 20 years to reverse the effect this kind of settlement has had on black people. Until government programmes are introduced to upgrade the lives of our people and deal with the question of access to the land and integration, separate development will continue to be the order of the day.
“In a nutshell, it is a burden to be black in the world today.”
Skosana said party politics created illusions that had left many township residents with deferred “dreams and broken spirits”.
Describing his yearly pilgrimage, he said: “I do this campaign first in obedience to God who in November 2010 revealed a vision of myself standing on the N2 at the Khayelitsha off-ramp with a banner saying ‘Welcome To Hell – SA Townships’. I knew right there and then that this was a message that needed to be heard by South Africa.”
The Easter weekend march will start on Saturday at 8.30am at the Uluntu Centre in Gugulethu.
Cape Argus