South Africa ​bans anti-gay Arizona pastor Steven Anderson from entering the country

Holocaust-denying, anti-gay American "Pastor" Steven Anderson

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Steven Anderson of the Faithful Word Baptist Church prohibited from entering country after 60,000 people signed online petition objecting to his ‘hate speech’

“Pastor” Steven Anderson, reacted to the terrorist attack at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, by happily announcing that “there’s 50 less pedophiles in this world.”

South Africa has banned a Holocaust-denying, anti-gay American pastor from entering the country, after an outcry from rights groups over his characterisation of gays as “sodomites” and “paedophiles”.

Steven Anderson, who in 2009 infamously prayed for Barack Obama’s death, had planned a “soul-winning” visit to South Africa at the weekend.

But home affairs minister Malusi Gigaba declared the Christian preacher a “prohibited person” following objections over his “hate speech”.

“Steven Anderson and members or associates of his church are prohibited from entering the Republic of South Africa,” Gigaba said at a press conference in Cape Town.

“We have a duty to prevent harm and hatred, in all forms, against LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and intersex) as against any other person in a democratic state,” the minister said.

Anderson has frequently courted controversy through his Arizona-based Faithful Word Baptist Church, which preaches a literal reading of the Bible.

A Holocaust denier, he prayed for the death of the US president in 2009 over his pro-choice stance on abortion, and called the victims of the November 2015 attack on the Bataclan nightclub in Paris “devil worshipers”.

After the deadly shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando earlier this year, he said, “there’s 50 less paedophiles in this world”.

And in an interview with a Cape Town radio station earlier Tuesday, Anderson called Nobel peace prize winner and former Anglican archbishop Desmond Tutu – a vocal supporter of the LGBTI community whose daughter is lesbian – a “pervert … who goes around in a pink dress”.

An online petition against the planned visit to South Africa garnered over 60,000 signatures.

Responding to his ban in a Facebook post, Anderson said: “I feel sorry for people who live in South Africa.”

He said a planned visit to neighbouring Botswana, where homosexual acts are illegal, was still scheduled to go ahead.

Americans do not require visas to travel to South Africa, but Gigaba on Tuesday also revoked Anderson’s visa exemption status.

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Michael Onas
Africa - Online Founder & Senior Editor Africa - Online.Com was founded by Michael Onas in 1997, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in African news sector, with millions of readers around the world and followers on social media.