Ban Anderson dossier submitted to Home Affairs

A dossier of damning evidence against gay hate pastor Steven Anderson has been submitted to the Department of Home Affairs.

On Monday, Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba asked LGBTI activists to compile the dossier to give him “hard facts” as to why he should prohibit Anderson and his group from entering the country later this month.

Gigaba told journalists: “We will consider very carefully the dossier presented to us and based on the dossier we will take the relevant decision to ensure that homophobes either are not allowed in South Africa or if they enter the country, they enter with very stringent restrictions as to what they can do or say.”

On Thursday, attorney Coenie Kukkuk, representing GaySA Radio, confirmed to Mambaonline that he had delivered the 27-page document to the chief director of the department’s legal office.

The dossier is an official legal petition, in terms of Section 29 and 30 of the Immigration Act, with motivation and supporting evidence, to ban Anderson, his wife and his group from coming into South Africa.

It includes quotes, speech transcripts, links, screenshots and other information that outline the preacher’s bigoted beliefs, not only against the LGBTI community, but also women, Jews and other groups.

Kukkuk revealed that he and his staff had spent the last three days watching “videos of Anderson’s vile and vitriolic sermons, also reading dozens of web entries and articles not only by Anderson but also his toxic wife and many of his followers”.

“This is the last and final possible action regarding the departmental avenues we can follow,” added Kukkuk. “We have been to the top and back. We shall see.”

If the minister does not agree to block Anderson, GaySA Radio will have the option to take legal (and very costly) action to compel the minister to act.

Anderson, who heads up the Arizona-based Faithful Word Baptist Church, is set to visit Johannesburg in a missionary style excursion on 18 September to “win souls” for his hateful cause. He and his supporters then plan to go to Botswana to set up a branch of his extremist church.

Anderson has stated that killing gay people would free the world from the AIDS epidemic. Most recently, he praised the Orlando massacre as “good news” because “there’s 50 less paedophiles in this world”. Anderson has continued to preach that governments must execute gay people.

Last week, LGBTI groups in Botswana launched their own petition against Anderson’s visit to their country.