Cape Town – How do you arrest a pastor allegedly preaching to his congregation in contravention of South Africa's lockdown regulations?
In a viral video clip, the police sergeant prays before arresting him in the name of the "Father, Son and Holy Spirit".
The officer first outlined why the Gauteng pastor had to be arrested and reprimanded him for flouting the lockdown rules and "misleading God's children".
The officer has been widely praised on social media for the respectful manner in which he conducted the arrest, asking permission from God before arresting the man of God.
DJ Fresh amusingly posted on Twitter: "When you have a job to do ... but still wanna get into heaven!!!", while Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula posted: "I salute him man in uniform."
According to national police spokesperson Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo, the incident took place in Phumulani, Alberton, on Sunday afternoon after police had responded to a tip-off about a church service taking place in contravention of the Covid-19 regulations.
"The pastor requested to pray for our members before they arrested him. Instead, the sergeant decided to say his own prayer before arresting the pastor.
"The pastor was then arrested and taken to the (Alberton) police station, where a case docket was opened.
"He was charged with contravening the regulations and was later released and warned to appear in the Germiston Magistrate's Court on July 3, 2020," Naidoo said.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/LockdownSA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LockdownSA pic.twitter.com/lh0ZLciKa7
— DJ Fresh (Big Dawg) (@DJFreshSA)