A South African church, the Afrikaanse Protestante Kerk, has stopped blacks from worshiping there.
It was gathered that the church which is located in Orania –an Afrikaans-only South African town –along Orange River banks, in Karoo area of Northern Cape Province, did not allow two journalists to attend services, Sunday.
According to the journalists, they were on an assignment and decided to worship in the church before they would return to Pretoria.
They were however intercepted at the door by a church leader, Mr Theunis Oukamp who told them that worshiping with there is a violation of the “rights of Afrikaans” as only whites are allowed in.
“I am now in a difficult situation. You know that Orania is only for white people, this is why we are here,” Mr Oukamp was reported to have told the journalists.
“You must understand I know you want to serve God and everything but I have to protect the rights of Afrikaans people. So I cannot let you in, you guys can go to any other church, but this one is only for white people.”
However, the president of the South Africa Union Council of Independent Churches, Archbishop Modiri Patrick Shole, has expressed surprise at the development.
“We don’t discriminate in church because before God we are one – whether white or black,” Archbishop Modiri Patrick Shole said. “I find it weird that we still have discrimination in the church.”
South Africa was freed from the shackles of apartheid, 23 years ago but this recent development suggests that the ghost of the horrid system may have well not died off.