Hands off Christmas, protesters say
2012-11-10 22:12
-
Religion
Be an eyewitness to various religions and learn about the wheel of existance, Christ's Crucifixion...
Now R77.00
buy now
Johannesburg - A group of Christian demonstrators handed over a memorandum to Home Affairs Minister Naledi Pandor on Saturday to oppose a proposal to remove Good Friday and Christmas as public holidays.
"Hands off Christmas and Good Friday," said the group outside Constitution Hill in Johannesburg.
The group of around 100 protesters which were led by head of the African Christian Democratic Party's Reverend Kenneth Meshoe delivered a memorandum of understanding to Pandor to oppose a motion by the Commission for the Protection and Promotion of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities.
The commission was allegedly exploring the idea of requesting government to scrap Good Friday and Christmas from the national calendar. They alleged that the celebrating of the two Christian holidays discriminated and excluded other religious denominations.
Reading the memorandum, Meshoe said they did not believe the two holidays discriminated against any religion.
"According to Statistics South Africa, Christians make up 79.5% of the country's population," said Meshoe.
He said the existence of these two holidays on the calendar showed the majority's standing.
Pandor told demonstrators that she had not yet received any enquiries from the commission, and urged them to "prepare for a jolly festive season".
- SAPA
