Manzini, 07 October, 2021 / 10:20 am (ACI Africa).
Some three months after police in the Kingdom of Eswatini violently suppressed pro-democracy protests, a delegation from the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) has started on a five-day “solidarity and pastoral visit” to the country.
Led by SACBC President, Bishop Sithembele Sipuka of South Africa’s Umtata Diocese, the delegation has also the Secretary General of the three-nation Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Associate Secretary General, Fr. Hugh O’Connor and Sr. Phuthunywa Catherine Siyali, respectively.
The SACBC delegation aims to understand Eswatini’s situation since the protests were violently suppressed in July.
“From Wednesday 06 October until Monday 11 October, our Diocese will host an ‘SACBC solidarity and pastoral visit’”, the Bishop of the Eswatini’s only Catholic Diocese has announced Tuesday, October 5.
Bishop José Luis Ponce de León of Manzini Diocese adds that the representatives of SACBC will become more familiar with the present situation in the country through meetings with different stakeholders in the Southern African Kingdom.