South Africa chief justice calls for God to burn ‘devil’ vaccines that ‘infuse triple six’

Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng has been in post since 2011

Credit: Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters

South Africa’s chief justice railed against a “satanic” Covid-19 vaccine that bears the “mark of the beast” during televised morning prayers on Thursday at a hospital in Johannesburg. Mogoeng Mogoeng, 59, called for any vaccine that has “the 666 mark” to be burnt.  

“If there be any vaccine that is of the devil, meant to infuse triple-six in the lives of people, meant to corrupt their DNA, any such vaccine, Lord God Almighty, may it be destroyed by fire, in the name of Jesus,” he said.

When Mr Mogoeng tried to unpack South Africa’s Judiciary Annual Report on Friday morning he was bombarded with questions about his views on vaccines after his comments led to serious backlash on social media.

WATCH:Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng closes his address through a prayer for the country. He's at Tembisa Hospital today. #SABCNews pic.twitter.com/lpVeRgu9xi

— Abongile Dumako (@AbongileDumako) December 10, 2020

He replied: “I honestly pay very little attention to the media. I don’t know if people honestly misunderstood what I said, or deliberately misunderstood what I said.”

However, the chief justice then reiterated his view that God must destroy a vaccine that is made by the devil. He also said that his religious beliefs should have no bearing on his judicial responsibilities.

It is unclear which vaccine Mr Mogoeng was referring to. South Africa, which has the most coronavirus cases in Africa, announced in November that it aims to vaccinate 10 per cent of its population using the Covax facility – a global alliance of countries and institutions that seek to provide developing nations equitable access to vaccines.

The Oxford-AstraZeneca partnership is currently the only vaccine-developer that has a deal to provide vaccines to the WHO-led initiative.