Pope Francis Offers Prayers for “unfortunate victims” of Fire Tragedy in South Africa

The SACBC members said they were “deeply disturbed” by utterances that downplayed the impact of the inferno following a South African Minister’s reaction to the fire tragedy.

The Catholic Church leaders drawn from Botswana, Eswatini, and South Africa highlighted remarks by Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni as one of the "profoundly disturbing” responses to the inferno.

The Minister in the Presidency of the Republic of South Africa said it is not the government’s responsibility to provide housing for illegal migrants.

"We have been deeply disturbed by some political statements that attempt to diminish the depth of the tragedy because illegal immigrants are among those killed," SACBC members said. 

They added that those who lost their lives in the inferno "were people – our brothers and sisters – and to dismiss them as 'illegal immigrants' perpetuates the dangerous anti-immigrant rhetoric that is being normalized."

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Meanwhile, members of the South African Council of Churches (SACC) also condoled with the families of those who lost their lives in the Johannesburg inferno.

In their August 31 statement, SACC members said they “noted with deep shock” the fire incident. 

The Christian leaders called on faith-based organizations in the country to offer spiritual and material support to the affected people. They said, “The Council is continuing to seek ways of mobilizing the churches in the area to be of pastoral support to the residents.”

On his part, the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, called for investigations into the cause of the fire.

Magdalene Kahiu is a Kenyan journalist with passion in Church communication. She holds a Degree in Social Communications from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). Currently, she works as a journalist for ACI Africa.