The high security in South Africa poses a problem for pastoral visitation, in various ways. This wasn’t a problem in my earlier ministry. Here is an example. I went to see a woman who had just lost her partner. She lives behind these bars. I was stopped by two security officers, before I reached the bars. They would not let me through, they said, until I gave them a door number. I didn’t have the number. Call her, they said, and get the number. But she was grieving and uncontactable. I had come a long way, I said (about 20 km). It took half an hour before they decided to make an exception, and accompanied me to her door.
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