Martyr Daswa to be beatified

The beatification ceremony of Benedict Daswa, the first martyr of South Africa to be recognised by the Church, will be celebrated by Cardinal Angelo Amato in Limpopo on 13 September. Benedict Daswa was brutally murdered by a mob on 2 February 1990, the same day that the release of Nelson Mandela was announced.

Daswa, who was 43 and the father of eight children, had voiced public misgivings about witchcraft in his native Limpopo province, and his murder was driven by suspicion and superstition. A spell of extreme weather in the months before his killing was blamed by local elders on magic. When they demanded a tax from everybody to pay for magic to counter the problems, Daswa refused to pay and said the storms and lightning strikes were a natural phenomenon. 

He was first ambushed and stoned by a mob, then his skull was smashed with a club and, finally, boiling water poured over his head. His final words were, “God, into Your hands receive my spirit”. Daswa, who became a Catholic at 17, helped to build the first church in his area and was a catechist, later becoming a school principal. His fame as a martyr now draws pilgrimages to his grave on his anniversary.

The South African Council of Churches (SACC) last week called on parishioners to be vigilant regarding certain practices encouraged by pastors in the name of the Christian faith.

According to the Gauteng-based daily, The Citizen, Pastor Penuel Mnguni, 24, of the End Times Disciples Ministries Church in Soshanguve, came under fire when he fed a snake to members of his congregation, declaring he had “the authority to change everything into anything and it will obey”.