FOR SA Welcomes ANC’s Commitment to Religious Freedom and Calls for Review of Article 22 Process

Article issued by Michael Swain; FOR SA executive director

Freedom of Religion South Africa (FOR SA) welcomes the African National Congress’s (ANC’s) statement of 13 October 2026 reaffirming its commitment to religious freedom. We also welcome the ANC’s commitment to constructive engagement with the South African Church Defenders (SACD) and the wider religious community. We commend the ANC for listening to the concerns raised by faith communities across the country.

In its statement, the ANC said that it “has neither called for nor advocated state regulation or control of churches and their religious affairs”, and that “churches and religious institutions must be free to govern and regulate their own affairs within the ambit of the Constitution”. It also said it remains “unshakable” in its defence of the rights of all religious communities, including religious minorities.
The Citizen reported the statement under the headline “ANC distances itself from proposed regulation of churches by CRL commission”. It reported that, according to the ANC’s spokesperson, the CRL Rights Commission’s (CRL) proposal to regulate churches was not endorsed by the party. FOR SA shares that reading of the ANC’s position.

The CRL and its Section 22 Committee have described their proposals as “self-regulation”, because religious leaders would serve on the proposed council. However, the Section 22 Committee’s Terms of Reference and Draft Framework provide for consultation on a legislative framework for a practice council and for the registration of religious institutions and practitioners. A body created, empowered or enforced by legislation, with powers to register, license or sanction religious leaders, does not amount to churches and religious institutions governing their own affairs. In FOR SA’s view, it is state regulation, whoever sits on it and whatever it is called.

FOR SA therefore understands the ANC’s position to mean that religious communities must be free to govern themselves, and that the ANC does not support legislation that would place them under a statutory regulatory body of this kind. This understanding is consistent with the ANC’s stated commitment to the Constitution, which protects freedom of religion, belief and opinion, freedom of association, and the rights of religious communities.

FOR SA also welcomes the SACD’s decision to suspend its planned march to Luthuli House as a gesture of good faith following the ANC’s statement.

The CRL Rights Commission must now change course
In light of the ANC’s statement, and the widespread opposition to the Section 22 process across faith communities, FOR SA calls on the CRL to suspend the current process. Furthermore, the Section 22 Committee’s Terms of Reference and Draft Framework should either be amended to remove any provision for legislation, a statutory council, or the registration or licensing of religious institutions and leaders, or the process should be brought to an end. In our view, continuing to spend public money on a process the largest GNU party has not endorsed is difficult to justify.
FOR SA also urges Parliament’s legal advisers to finalise, without further delay, their overdue opinion on the legality of establishing the Section 22 Committee and its Terms of Reference.

The right answer to abuse
FOR SA’s position is that existing laws of general application are the right answer to abuse, fraud and misconduct by anyone, including religious leaders. These include criminal, child protection, tax, consumer protection and non-profit laws, and they must be properly enforced. Religious communities remain free to form their own voluntary associations and codes of conduct, and equally free to leave them. Such bodies must be owned and run by the communities themselves and not established or backed by the state.

FOR SA is non-partisan, and we welcome clear commitments on religious freedom from every political party. On 7 October 2026, FOR SA wrote to every party represented in the National Assembly asking for its position on state regulation of religion, and we are now receiving responses. We remain open to continued engagement with the ANC, and with all parties, on this matter. Freedom of religion belongs to every South African, of every faith and of none.

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Date published: 16/10/2026
Feature image: Sourced from Ground Up
Photographer: Ashraf Hendricks
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