Overview:

• State privilege for the Catholic Church.

• Existential recognition is bestowed only to the Catholic Church while all other forms of religion and belief are offered only legal registration.

• The rule of mandatory registration is a violation of the Bielefeldt provision, a rule that was made more severe by the introduction of a membership quota which stipulates the requirement of 500 notarised signatures of members before any activity can take place.

• The subjective phrase “presence in the country” encompasses a broad area of activities for a religious group that namely includes protected religious activities.

Positive elements:

• Provisions have been put in place for registered religious groups to access means of broadcasting which demonstrates a dynamic characteristic.

Recommendations:

• Establish a recognition system that has the capacity to bestow both existential recognition and legal registration.

• Remove subjective wording from the legislation in order to ensure that misuse of the legislation does not occur.

• Revoke all restrictive policies and requirements that are inappropriate to standards of freedom of religion or belief.

• Take a more receptive approach to minorities and NRMs as a means of moving up the Spectrum of Religious Recognition.