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With the South African floods, baptisms turn deadly.

Published by victor caleb on January 26th, 2023.

South Africa is still reeling from the shocking death of 15 people, including a three-month-old baby, during a botched river baptism last month…

Floodwaters in the Jukskei River, which flows through a number of suburbs in Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city, swept away the victims on December 3. Kind Kupe, a pastor from neighboring Zimbabwe, was rescued by other members of his church while performing the baptism ceremony.

The church is part of the Johane Masowe movement, which was founded in 1930s Zimbabwe by an indigenous itinerant preacher. Adherents are distinguished by their prominent white robes and their preference for outdoor worship.

Some people in South Africa blame church leaders for the tragedy.

“I know baptism has been going on for a long time, but having someone baptized in a river with that much water flowing through it is dangerous,” an Alexandria resident told News24.

Nomusa Bandile, whose teenage daughter died in the flood, called the pastor a “cruel fraudster.”

However, some academics point to the tragedy as an example of how humans struggle to adapt to climate change.

“We are likely to see more tragedies if proper information on climate change does not reach the grassroots,” said Sibusiso Masondo, an associate professor in the school of religion, philosophy, and classics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Lakes, rivers, and the ocean were traditionally seen as important in both cleansing and healing rituals in South Africa, according to him.

This tradition is linked to the Christian ritual of baptism by indigenous churches, which base much of their faith and worship on outdoor immersion ceremonies.

“There is an element of respect for nature and reliance on her for provision in African religion,” he said. “It is their responsibility to adapt to the current weather changes.”

Floods have become more common in South Africa in recent years, making open-river baptisms more dangerous.

Floods and landslides struck the country’s Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces in April, following heavy rains that exceeded 11 inches in some areas in 24 hours. More than 400 people were killed in the floods, which also displaced 40,000 people and destroyed over 12,000 homes.

A coalition of research groups, including the University of Oxford’s School of Geography and the Environment and Princeton University’s Department of Geosciences, concluded that human-induced climate change had doubled the likelihood of such heavy rainfall.

“An event of this magnitude would have been rarer in a world that was 1.2°C cooler,” they wrote. Heavy rainfall events “are projected to increase in frequency and magnitude… with additional global warming levels,” the scientists said.

According to aid agencies, heavy rains in South Africa’s Gauteng Province in early December triggered another humanitarian disaster affecting 40,000 people.

Previous floods have also killed people who were about to be baptized. In December 2021, a minister and one of his congregants drowned in South Africa’s Free State Province during a river immersion caused by heavy rains.

According to South Africa’s Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious, and Linguistic Communities, while people have the right to practice rituals such as water baptism, greater levels of responsibility from both leaders and members are required.

“Practicing one’s faith should always ensure the protection and preservation of one’s life and dignity,” the commission stated following the Jukskei drownings.

However, Retief Müller, a South African researcher and associate professor of mission and world Christianity at Norway’s VID Specialized University, warns that people are quick to blame marginalized groups in order to avoid complexity and complicity. The Johane Masowe churches’ religious rituals have not adapted to the new challenges of climate change, but neither has South African society as a whole.

“This is not to defend the pastor, but to be aware of the larger context,” Müller explained. “Given the history of xenophobia and anti-foreigner sentiment in various parts of South Africa, including the Johannesburg area, negative feelings toward this church leader may have existed prior to the tragedy.”

Ten of the victims were South Africans, and at least one was Zimbabwean.

The danger is not always obvious ahead of time. Drownings have also occurred in the region’s rivers during non-flooding conditions.

Eight members of an apostolic church group drowned in Zimbabwe in 2021 during a ceremony along the Mazowe River in the country’s north. Church leaders had directed the men to retrieve a “holy stick” that had been thrown into the river. The first person to retrieve the stick would be the next leader of baptisms in the church.

The tragedy occurred during Zimbabwe’s dry season, when rivers are at their lowest.

Müller believes that Africa’s long history of water rituals predates the introduction of Christianity, but that city life may have dulled some church leaders’ sense of what is safe.

“In the past, ritual practitioners may have had a better understanding of the characteristics of bodies of water and weather patterns due to their lifestyles that were closely linked to the natural environment and the geography of the land,” he said.

“I would not assume that the church leaders had malicious intent. The real culprit is most likely a lack of knowledge about the environment and how to coexist with it.”