Drop Verryn matter: Samwu

2010-01-29 17:09

Johannesburg - The disciplinary matter facing suspended Bishop Paul Verryn should be withdrawn, the SA Municipal Workers Union said on Friday.

"We share the view of the Legal Resources Centre and others, that the two 'charges' against him are without substance, and should be immediately withdrawn and apologies offered," Samwu's Stephen Faulkner said in a statement.

Verryn was suspended after he was charged with transgressing the constitution of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. He was expected to face a disciplinary hearing on February 1. He had been in charge of the Central Methodist Church in the Johannesburg CBD and accommodating hundreds of Zimbabwean refugees.

"We wholeheartedly condemn the scurrilous way the mass media has allowed itself to repeat old and discredited slurs from the past in an attempt to further besmirch the name and actions of this man of the cloth."

'Profoundly humble human being'

"Anyone who has spent even a short time in the company of Paul Verryn will know that he is an intelligent, passionate and yet profoundly humble human being."

The union said Verryn was being victimised because his example was a threat to the complacency and the absence of compassion among both church and civil authorities.

"They should be ashamed of their actions... The reality is that South Africa now hosts thousands of destitute refugees because our government under [former] president [Thabo] Mbeki doggedly pursued an ineffective policy in relation to the brutality of the [Zimbabwean President Robert] Mugabe regime."

"Rather than persecuting Paul Verryn, why are the civil and church authorities not addressing this issue? Why are they not seeking a way forward based on humane and lasting solutions?"

- SAPA