ANC accused of spying on churches

Leaders of churches representing tens of millions of South Africans have accused the governing African National Congress of spying on them.

“Motshekga, back off from the church!” was the warning sent yesterday in a joint statement to Mathole Motshekga, parliamentary chief whip of the ANC and the head of the party’s cultural and religious affairs department.

The statement from leaders of a number of churches accused Mr Motshekga of sending four subordinates to “infiltrate” a closed meeting of the National Church Leaders’ Consultation.

They said it was part of Mr Motshekga’s efforts “to muscle in on and manipulate church leadership structures”.

A statement from Mr Motshekga’s office said there had been “an innocent mistake” and that his political adviser walked into the wrong meeting.

But Roman Catholic cardinal Wildrid Napier said that at least three officers from Mr Motshekga’s office slipped into the meeting and were rifling through papers before they were discovered. “This is direct interference by a political party in the affairs of the church,” he said.

Cardinal Napier added: “I think they are assuming that because we opposed apartheid together that we accept everything that the ANC stands for today. In its present manifestation, the ANC is a very different animal from the one we worked for in the struggle.”