Johannesburg - After a week of making headlines for his statements, Pastor André Olivier owned up to his racism and asked for forgiveness from his congregation.
On Sunday, Olivier was received with wild and long standing applause as he took to the stage of Rivers Church in Sandton.
He spoke following a Twitter apology he made on Wednesday for saying: “If you want to know why white people still have money, it is because they work,” among other things.
On Sunday, he said: “Reflecting on the statements in my sermon last Sunday, I realise that they were deeply hurtful, offensive and racist. We're only 22 years into our new democracy, and although we've made progress, we've not come close to healing from a system that caused violent oppression.”
This follows a take-down of the pastor released on Saturday, written by Professor JNJ "Klippies" Kritzinger, at the request of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation.
“It is to be appreciated that Pastor Olivier apologised for the statements he made in a sermon on Sunday, June 26.
"It is important, though, not to simply forgive him and move on, since his words were not only 'poorly chosen' (as he says in his Twitter apology), but reveal deep-seated attitudes and approaches that keep on bedevilling relationships between black and white people in this country.”
Kritzinger added: “While everyone appreciates his public apology, he can only be forgiven if he admits he was wrong in his fundamental assumptions, not only in his choice of words. That is the only way to genuine reconciliation and transformation”.
Many congregants seemed to believe Olivier admitted his wrong on the fundamental level.
@sabelomthembu tweeted: “What a beautiful sermon @#RiversChurch. Thank you @AndreGOlivier for showing true character and leadership. Your humility has healed us. Thank you, we will use church to heal a broken nation and uproot deep-seated issues. God will use @RiversChurch.”
But some on social media judged the black people who returned to the church harshly, like @musa_mabunda who wrote: “Ahh I’ve been informed that our blacks are at André’s Sandton church business and they still gave him their monies, god pls #riverschurch.”