This as 31 new COVID-19 cases have been confirmed taking the total number of cases in the country to 116.

Speaking to SABC News on Tuesday, the church Spokesperson, Reverend Emmanuel Motolla confirmed that the church had decided to postpone their annual pilgrimage and would announce a new date once normality has been restored.

“To set the record straight, the Zion Christian Church has postponed this years’ annual Easter pilgrimage, held at the headquarters of Moria, due to the coronavirus, also known as COVID-19. The church’s spiritual leader, Dr BE Lekganyane, took the decision on Friday, March 13 2020, after the church was briefed by the national government delegation, led by the Health Minister, Zweli Mkhize,” says Motolla.

Never, in the history of the ZCC, since its inception in 1910, has the biggest church in Southern Africa had to postpone or cancel its pilgrimage but Motolla says this was necessary in the interest of society at large.

Since Sunday, as many organisations were announcing cancellations of their respective events, focus was being turned onto the ZCC who remained mum on their plans for their Easter conference. However, Motolla says internal processes had to be followed before an announcement was made public.

“While the decision was taken on Friday, the church decided not go public about it until all its structures were officially informed,” he says. “A further meeting is scheduled for this weekend to give members more information about the virus.”

Decision taken 'out of concern'

Motolla says the ZCC, under the spiritual leadership of Dr BE Lekganyane, was not under pressure to make the decision, but in fact took the initiative “out of concern” last week Monday to invite the Health Minister to brief the church on the matter, after the initial cases of the virus were confirmed in the country.

“Concerned about the confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the country, the ZCC invited Minister Mkhize on Monday, to come and brief the church about the impact of the disease (and) how the national government was handling it, the necessary precautionary measures and how the ZCC could help in mitigating the impact of the pandemic.”

In the neighbouring country of Zimbabwe, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has also declared Covid-19 a national disaster. This although the country has yet to record its first confirmed case of the virus.

SABC News