ACDP envisages a self-sufficient SA led by Christian morality
JON HOUZET
ACDP president Kenneth Meshoe encouraged party members with his vision for South Africa when he visited Port Alfred last Friday.
Meshoe, who has led the party for 22 years and is one of three ACDP MPs in parliament, told supporters not to judge the ACDP based on the size of turnouts at meetings – the lunchtime gathering at the Lodge was small, with less than 30 people. A later meeting in Nemato drew about 100.
Several ACDP branches have recently been established in Ndlambe to contest the local government elections.
“God has surprised the enemies of his people when you look at the scriptures,” Meshoe said. “When you see stadiums filled with red berets, don’t be concerned. God is not moved by that.
“All these other parties are working against God because they want to leave God out of government. But God is Lord of everything,” he said.
“We must change our language. People talk about the need for a strong opposition. We must correct them. Instead of talking about a strong opposition we need to talk about the need for a godly government.
“Unless there is a divine intervention we are going to lose South Africa. Twenty-two years of democracy has not produced the desired effect. I’ve told my friends in the ANC, ‘You put God aside.’”
Meshoe related one of the ACDP’s success stories. He said in 2012 the party had heard about plans to remove Christmas and Good Friday as public holidays.
“We knew it was about more than the holiday, it was about the person behind the holiday – trying to remove Christ from the culture.”
He said they took two delegations to government – first a church group, and then the ACDP, to protest.
They were shocked when they found five other groups giving input on the public holidays, including Muslims, Hindus, Rastafarians, sangomas and African traditional leaders – but no Christians.
“We said how can you discuss Christian holidays without consulting Christians?”
The matter was taken to the provinces, where upwards of 80% were in favour of retaining Christmas and Good Friday, he said.
“We also had a protest march to say hands off Christmas and Good Friday. It worked.”
But the SA Human Rights Commission recently examined the public holidays again and government released a list saying the Day of the Vow/Reconciliation (December 16), Boxing Day/Day of Goodwill (December 26) and Easter Monday/Family Day would be scrapped.
“The ACDP took a stand so Christmas and Good Friday will not be deleted. No other party took that stand,” he said.
“We must never think that South Africa is going to be like Zimbabwe. South Africa is going to be a model among the nations, and we are the people who are going to do it.”
He said the next three years are going to be critical for South Africa.
Meshoe related a story of how the EFF had brought bricks and sticks to parliament. “They wanted confrontation. If blood flows in parliament, it would flow in the streets. There are people who want war in South Africa. The more people talk the language of war, the more Christians must stand as peacemakers,” he said.
“Our greatest challenge is to get sleeping Christians to wake up and stop voting for immoral parties which don’t share their convictions. It’s about more than their pockets and personal concerns, it’s about the nation.
“We have to get those in the highest positions to honour God.”
Meshoe said he did not have many visions, but he had one where African leaders do not go to Europe with begging bowls but with chequebooks.
“I see a day coming where African leaders will go to Europe and say, ‘How can we help you?’”
