Prayer on vaccine: South Africa Should Call Justice Mogoeng to Order

My attention has been drawn to a recent prayer by the South African Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng on the COVID-19 vaccine. Mogoeng has, at a Thanksgiving ceremony held at a local hospital to thank nurses and other health workers, asked God to destroy any vaccine that is infused with the antichristian symbol. He said: “Whatever phase is set to be coming, Lord, I judge it, I run it down in the name of Jesus. I lock out every demon of COVID-19. I lock out any vaccine that is not of you. If there be any vaccine that is of the devil meant to infuse 666 in the lives of people, meant to corrupt their DNA, any such vaccine, Lord God Almighty, may it be destroyed by fire! Any legalizing agent Lord for wickedness in this nation, for wickedness in Africa…Send your angels…to enforce Your will. No more suffering Lord”.
It is important to take a critical look at Mogoeng’s prayer and its implication on the management of this public health emergency.

In the prayer, the South African Chief Justice appealed to the fears and anxieties of the people in South Africa. Many South Africans have been anticipating further spread and more deaths as a result of the pandemic. Hence, Mogoeng said: “Whatever phase is set to be coming, Lord, I judge it, I run it down in the name of Jesus”. Now: what does this mean? Is that what is expected of a state officer? Is that how other countries are controlling and containing the virus? What is the connection between COVID-19 and the name of Jesus?

Now the chief Justice further said: “I lockout every demon of COVID-19”. Just imagine that. Is COVID-19 a form of demon? Not at all. COVID-19 is a virus. So why label it a demon? Meanwhile, there is no evidence that demons exist? Why did Mogoeng present himself as a charlatan? Why did he try to create the impression of doing something about the pandemic-locking out every demon of COVID-19-when he was doing nothing?

It was his next line of prayer that would make one cringe. He said: “I lock out any vaccine that is not of you. If there be any vaccine that is of the devil meant to infuse 666 in the lives of people, meant to corrupt their DNA, any such vaccine, Lord God Almighty, may it be destroyed by fire!”

I mean, what does Mogoeng know about vaccine and vaccine production and administration? Does he understand the workings of the DNA? What has the vaccine got to do with the devil or the so-called 666? What has any vaccine got to do with God? Scientists and pharmaceutical companies, not God, the devil, or the angels are the ones working on the vaccine. They are all hard at work trying to produce and make available a safe and effective vaccine.

So at a time when South Africans are grappling with the pandemic, Mogoeng should stop spreading unnecessary fears and anxieties over the COVID-19 vaccine. He should stop saying prayers that could mislead and misguide South Africans. As a public office holder, Mogoeng should know the importance of making public pronouncements within the limits of one’s office, profession, and expertise. Mogoeng is the chief justice, not the health minister of South Africa. He has training in law, not medicine or public health. Mogoeng has failed to obey the WHO directives on the management of the pandemic. The global health body has urged that pronouncements on COVID-19 be guided by facts, science, and evidence. WHO has advised against spreading misinformation and disinformation about the pandemic. Mogoeng’s prayer violated the WHO guidelines. The prayer drips with misinformation and disinformation about the pandemic and the vaccine. South African authorities should call Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng to order.

Leo Igwe

Leo Igwe (born July 26, 1970) is a Nigerian human rights advocate and humanist. Igwe is a former Western and Southern African representative of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, and has specialized in campaigning against and documenting the impacts of child witchcraft accusations. He holds a Ph.D from the Bayreuth International School of African Studies at the University of Bayreuth in Germany, having earned a graduate degree in Philosophy from the University of Calabar in Nigeria. Igwe’s human rights advocacy has brought him into conflict with high-profile witchcraft believers, such as Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries, because of his criticism of what he describes as their role in the violence and child abandonment that sometimes result from accusations of witchcraft. His human rights fieldwork has led to his arrest on several occasions in Nigeria. Igwe has held leadership roles in the Nigerian Humanist Movement, Atheist Alliance International, and the Center For Inquiry—Nigeria. In 2012, Igwe was appointed as a Research Fellow of the James Randi Educational Foundation, where he continues working toward the goal of responding to what he sees as the deleterious effects of superstition, advancing skepticism throughout Africa and around the world. In 2014, Igwe was chosen as a laureate of the International Academy of Humanism and in 2017 received the Distinguished Services to Humanism Award from the International Humanist and Ethical Union. Igwe was raised in southeastern Nigeria, and describes his household as being strictly Catholic in the midst of a “highly superstitious community,” according to an interview in the Gold Coast Bulletin.[1] At age twelve, Igwe entered the seminary, beginning to study for the Catholic priesthood, but later was confused by conflicting beliefs between Christian theology and the beliefs in witches and wizards that are “entrenched in Nigerian society.”[1] After a period of research and internal conflict due to doubts about the “odd blend of tribalism and fundamentalist Christianity he believes is stunting African development,” a 24-year-old Igwe resigned from the seminary and relocated to Ibadan, Nigeria