On Tuesday, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that under level 3 church gatherings will be allowed to resume with a limit of 50 people or less.

President of National Council of Churches Monokoane Hlobo says they believe that numbers can differ based on the capacity of each church.

“The number of people in the church should be determined by the size of the church. This will be fair for small, medium and large churches. We have already sent the communication to the office of the President. We want to engage the president to increase the number but as per the size of the churches. We are committed that we will adhere to the conditions of the department of health.”

At the same time, there has been appeals to churches to adhere to all precautionary measure as churches resume under alert level 3. This as first coronavirus cases reported in the Free State emanated from a church gathering that was held in Bloemfontein in March, where five international guests that attended the gathering at the Divine Restoration Ministries tested positive.

Global Reconciliation Church pastor Mohau Rammile, who was also in attendance , tested positive but has since recovered. Some of his church members also contracted the virus, including an 86-year-old pastor who later passed on. Talking from experience, Pastor Rammile has advised churches to be extra careful.

“Pastors, please let’s just make sure that we take extra precautionary measures of sanitation and disinfecting our places of worship and if it is possible that you don't have enough space for 50 people, put 10 or five people there. The health of your people is very important. The loss of life is something we cannot recover but you can recover resuming yourself. But I thought when the announcement was made was to phase in things like administration.”

eNCA reports the country's biggest church, the Zion Christian Church (ZCC), won't be opening during Level 3 of the lockdown.

ZCC Bishop Dr BE Lekganyane announced on Thursday that their churches will remain closed until further notice.

In a statement released to the public on Thursday, Lekganyane said it is not yet safe to resume services at the ZCC churches. The directive will impact all churches, even outside the country.

SABC News