Roman Catholic Church to start building a shrine in honour of Blessed Benedict Daswa outside Thohoyandou

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Tzaneen in Limpopo says a recognized miracle by the church needs to happen to reach the last stage to canonise and declare the Blessed Benedict Daswa a Saint.

Monday, 13 September, marks the sixth anniversary since he was beatified to become the first martyr in the Catholic Church in Southern African.

It had paved the way for the Pope to canonise and declare him as a saint.

Daswa, a staunch Catholic, was beaten to death by villagers near Thohoyandou because of his opposition to witchcraft in 1990.

Roman Catholic Diocese of Tzaneen’s promoter, sister Tshifhiwa Munzhedzi says there are few ways of recognizing the person to become a saint.

“We have a few ways of recognizing that a person is becoming a Saint. Martyrdom is what we are using in order to have him become a saint. Martyrdom is already acknowledged that it has happened. What is left is just for him to be acknowledged as a saint. However,  for that to happen, we need a recognized miracle by the church,” says sister Munzhedzi .

Sister Munzhedzi says they will start to develop land at Tshitanini where they will build a shrine.

“Next month, we will be starting to build the wall around the place. We are already starting to move with Tshitanini itself.  We do have a little bit of money. Originally the project was estimated at R67-million,” says sister Munzhedzi.

Daswa was stoned to death in 1990 for his Catholic beliefs. He refused to contribute money to pay a traditional doctor. To identify a person who the community suspected of practising witchcraft.

Below is an archived video of Blessed Benedict Daswa’s beatification: