Religious live-streaming in response to coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown in South Africa

Mookgo Solomon Kgatle

doi:10.4102/ve.v41i1.2120

Abstract

he novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a virus that firstly struck in Wuhan, China, but its impact is felt by the whole world. The spread of the virus in South Africa caused President Cyril Ramaphosa to announce a national state of disaster in the country on 15 March 2020. Subsequently, on 23 March 2020, the President announced a total shutdown of the economy, which is also known as lockdown, effective from 26 March 2020. The restrictions of the lockdown affected different churches regardless of the denomination name. Churches were not allowed to congregate during this period for the safety of their followers and the citizens. This article reflects on the use of live-streaming via social media platforms such as zoom, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other apps by many churches in South Africa as a response or a way of coping with the lockdown. The argument is that although these various platforms proved to be effective on the one hand, they also raised other challenges on the other hand. The article will look at the ways of mediating the challenges of live-streaming and make recommendations.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The article is an interdisciplinary study between theology and media studies. The study seeks to demonstrate how churches used live-streaming via social media to cope with the restrictions of the lockdown in South Africa.

Highlights

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) started in Wuhan, China, as a cluster of pneumonia cases
In South Africa, according to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) (2020), the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed on 05 March 2020 on a 38-year-old male South African who had travelled to Italy together with his wife
The aim of this article was to look at the response of churches in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak and the subsequent lockdown

Summary

Introduction

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) started in Wuhan, China, as a cluster of pneumonia cases. We all obviously regret not being with one another physically, but on the other hand, this crisis is forcing us to catch up with the modern world of young people in how we are the church This illustrates that live-streaming and the use of social media, in general, were non-denominational during COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdown in South Africa. The public perceived the request as being insensitive to people’s loss of income and other difficulties that households faced during the lockdown Bushiri and his church according to Mothombeni (2020) issued a statement in defence of the call for tithes and offerings: in going online, nothing about the organisation of the church has changed; it’s only the medium of reach which has changed the church still remains an organization, supported by its members, followers and well-wishers to stand and function on its own. All these should be performed to ensure that everyone else is connected to the Lord Jesus Christ in difficult times

Conclusion

Findings

Data availability statement