‘Christians are betraying God by not voting for the ACDP’

Durban — Archbishop Sipho Eric Manqele believes the lack of unity among Christians has stagnated the ACDP’s growth.

Manqele who is the party’s premier candidate in KwaZulu-Natal, tops the party’s election list in the province.

He is also the leader of the African Church of Christ, which is based in Mtubatuba, near Richards Bay.

Manqele is of the view that Christians are undermining God “as they say something and do something else”.

“We commend those Christians who glorify God by giving their vote to the ACDP,” he said.

According to culturalatlas.sbs.com.au, 80% of the country’s population are Christians.

Manqele said he believed God was still preparing the right time for the ACDP to rule.

“When the time is right, God will open the eyes of the Christians to see that the ACDP should be in charge,” he said.

Manqele holds a PhD in Social Science and an Honours Degree in Political Science from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

The 64-year-old leader’s political background started when he joined the IFP in 1977. He completed matric in 1980 and worked as an unqualified teacher until 1989.

In 1992, he worked as an insurance broker and in 1996 he worked for the Electoral Commission of South Africa as a Zululand Regional manager.

He was an IFP councillor for 23 years in Uthungulu District Municipality, which is now called King Cetshwayo.

“In 2000, I was appointed as speaker for the Hlabisa Municipality. I stepped aside from politics to join the administration as director for community services and later became municipal manager for the uMhlabuyalingana Municipality until 2009,” he said.

He later joined the ANC and spent about five years helping the party to grow in his area, but he realised that he had made a wrong political move and left.

“I received God’s calling in 2016 to help ACDP build branches in the province.

“The following year, there was a provincial election and I contested and fortunately, through God, I won as a provincial leader,” he said.

He said he found the party without any members in the legislature in KZN but was able to help it win a seat, which he occupied since 2019.

“We made achievements in the local governments. I found the party with one councillor in eThekwini Municipality and one in Msunduzi Municipality.

“During 2021 local government elections, we added six more councillors, and right now we have eight councillors in the province.”

The ACDP has four seats in the National Assembly.

He said through his ability to grow the party, he would be able to govern the province or partner with other parties to govern through a coalition.

Manqele was concerned about immorality, which he said had wreaked havoc and thrown the country into despair.

“We want to build stability and security because you cannot grow the economy when the country is like this. We are not safe. People are being shot to death and nothing is done about it. We live in a country that feels like a prison, with homes having burglar guards,” he said.

“Borders are opened for anyone to come to the country without being processed.

“We now see men changing sex organs, polyandry and in Durban there was a symposium for prostitutes.”

Manqele said as a devoted Christian with ambitions to join politics, former chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng should have joined the ACDP.

“If I were him, I was going to do that. There are lots of Christian-based parties, but those leaders should have come to the ACDP, which started the foundation.

“If they saw shortcomings in the ACDP, they should have come to the ACDP to discuss those shortcomings and build a united party for Christians and work together moving forward.

“The disunity tamed Christians and made us a non-entity in the political space,” said Manqele.

The All African Alliance Movement Party, which last year launched its May 29 election campaign, announced that Mogoeng was its preferred state presidential candidate.

But the party did not feature on the list of contesting parties, which was released by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

The former Constitutional Court head had previously reportedly said he would one day become the state president without joining a political party.

Manqele said most Christians did not support the ACDP.

“That is why South Africa, which has enough wealth, remains among the poorest nations in the world,” he said.

The ACDP held its national launch in Gauteng in March and has been campaigning in various regions.

ACDP president Kenneth Meshoe would be in KZN to continue with their campaign from May 16 to 19, said Manqele.

“He will be in Durban on May 16, in Richards Bay on May 17, and the next day we will have a prayer rally at Mbizweni Hall in Empangeni. On the 19th we will be campaigning in Eskhawini.”

Sunday Tribune