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  • CONVERSATIONS@DIAKONIA SOUTH AFRICA’S SOCIO-POLITICAL CLIMATE: PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE – LUKHONA MNGUNI

    CONVERSATIONS@DIAKONIA SOUTH AFRICA’S SOCIO-POLITICAL CLIMATE: PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE – LUKHONA MNGUNI

    SOUTH AFRICA’S SOCIO-POLITICAL CLIMATE: PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE

    ADDRESS BY LUKHONA MNGUNI

    17 OCTOBER 2017

    DENIS HURLEY HALL

     

    Chairperson of the Diakonia Council of Churches, Rev. Ian Booth;

    Executive Director, Ms Nomabelu Mvambo-Dandala and your colleagues;

    Leaders in the various strata of our society.

    Guests, ladies and gentlemen, I greet you all.

    We gather here 10 days before Oliver Reginald Tambo’s birthday. He would be turning 100 years were he still alive. Rightfully so, the government called upon all of us to celebrate his centenary this year. The course of our liberation and in particular that of the African National Congress was anchored in the leadership of Tambo who served first as Acting President and then President of the ANC from 1967 when incumbent President Chief Albert Luthuli died until 1991 when the ANC held its first conference after the unbanning of political movements. Oliver Tambo became Secretary-General of the ANC in 1955 at the age of 38, an unimaginable occurrence in today’s ANC politics of contestation among the aged. Tambo died on the 24 April 1993, two weeks after the assassination of Chris Hani, just only a year to the birth of a new democratic South Africa. These leaders whose footprints are engraved in the history of our anti-colonial and anti-apartheid struggles, like many other activists who fought for South Africa’s political freedom, never lived to see the breakthrough finally arrive. We remain privileged to know the vision they had for this country through the many speeches and writings they left for us to inherit.

    The liberation vision as expressed by the ANC’s then National Executive Committee (NEC) to its annual conference of 1955 was in the form of a summation of the Freedom Charter that had been adopted in 1955. The NEC stated that “the Charter is no patchwork of demands, no jumble of reforms. The ten clauses of the Charter cover all the aspects of the lives of the people. The Charter exposes the fraud of racialism and of minority government. It demands equal rights before the law, work and security for all, the opening of doors of learning and culture for all. It demands that our brothers in the Protectorates shall be free to decide for themselves their own future; it proclaims the oneness of our aims for peace and friendship with our brothers in Africa and elsewhere in the world.” This NEC statement emphasised with great precision that the summation of the Freedom Charter was “the pattern of the new South Africa which must make a complete break with the present unjust system”.

    Have we made this complete break with the unjust system of the past? Are we still hooked in the tentacles of the legacies of colonialism and apartheid? More aptly asked, have we given value to the freedom we celebrate?

     

    Understanding the nature of climate

    Today I am asked to reflect on South Africa’s socio-political climate: prospects for the future. Perhaps, it is important to understand what we mean by climate, firstly from the weather perspective. Wikipedia came to my rescue. Climate is defined as “the statistics of weather over long periods of time. It is measured by assessing the patterns of variation in temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, precipitation, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological variables in a given region over long periods of time.” Long-term research on climate studies shows quite evidently that climate change is upon us and this conversation is couched under the popular term – global warming. For the longest time, humanity believed that climate changes only due to natural causes that are free of human action.

    However, the evolved conversation is anchored on a debate that firmly focuses on human activity, calling for countries across the world to make commitments to enact policies that regulate their carbon emissions across industries. Carbon dioxide is part of greenhouse gases that give rise to global warming, but carbon emissions are most responsible – call them chief agents of climate change. NASA states that “carbon dioxide is a minor but very important component of the atmosphere, it is released through natural processes such as respiration and volcano eruptions and through human activities such as deforestation, land use changes, and burning fossil fuels. Humans have increased atmospheric CO2 concentration by more than a third since the Industrial Revolution began. This is the most important long-lived “forcing” of climate change.”

    In this climate change discourse there are sceptics who are naysayers influenced at times by lack of knowledge, material benefit in industries that are high emitters of carbon or a dogmatic fixation to a school of thought. All these three principal reasons for being climate change sceptics are perilous in nature. What for me is probably the most important question is: Have we done so much damage that global warming is now irreversible or there is room to improve? The answer probably is: if future generations are yet to inherit this world we might as well try our level best not to do more damage than we already have.

    On the 10th of this month, Karima Brown posted an update on her Facebook that said “the storm in KZN foretells of things to come. Of court battles and such. It’s on.” She must have been referring to the state of politics within the ruling party, where the centre of the party is no longer holding, with the National Executive Committee disabled from giving authoritative leadership that is fair and just. Members now seek recourse and refuge in the courts to adjudicate on what are internal political battles that can be resolved through the reestablishment of virtuous politics. What Karima Brown must have been saying is that there is a political storm fast approaching. Does our socio-political climate indicate this? We have already learned that we need to be historical and longitudinal in our analysis in order to arrive at a fair judgment on the state of climate. Thus, we must probe past events to arrive at a determination about South Africa’s socio-political climate today.

    The chief agent of socio-political climate change in contemporary South Africa is the ANC. It is for this reason that much of my talk will keep touching on the ANC, its prominence is pervasive. The ANC’s presence in the country’s political landscape is highly dominant and was on the rise from the 1994 elections until 2009 elections. Since then, the party has been experiencing electoral decline that shockingly, in August 2016, culminated in the party losing a decisive majority in four metropolitan municipalities; Tshwane, Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Nelson Mandela Bay. When some trumpeted that the ANC would be in power until Jesus comes, they could never have imagined such a reality. Of course that very statement was undemocratic. In a multiparty democracy, it is not only imaginable but desirable for power to change hands and see high political competition built on tolerance for dissent as that multiplies the set of ideas to move the country forward. As far back as March 2005, then COSATU Secretary-General Zwelinzima Vavi uttered these words, “Any effort to stop Jacob Zuma from becoming president would be like “trying to fight against the big wave of the tsunami”. When Zuma finally emerged as president in the Polokwane Conference of 2007, his supporters reiterated “Zuma is an unstoppable tsunami”. I doubt they imagined the scale and magnitude of this tsunami. Perhaps, they thought that this tsunami derives its powers from their support and they could be able to tame and control it. Clearly not. Much like with the effects of global warming, we must just live with the consequences as our past actions that have led us to this environmental catastrophe are irreversible. We can only bank on our future actions. Is it too late? Perhaps we are to be hit by many political storms before we realise the magnitude of our past mistakes.

     

    How did we invite a political tsunami into our shores?

    As with climate change discussions, there were naysayers influenced at times by lack of knowledge on how to read politics and see through political wolves in sheep skin. There were those who were chasing material benefit through proximity to state resources as they would be strategically placed if they supported the tsunami. Some adopted a dogmatic fixation with their dislike for Thabo Mbeki and his leadership leading them to place ahead their feelings beyond rationality, hoping that they would be able to tame the tsunami not to be devastating and control it not to last beyond one term and now some are busy trying to control it not to last beyond a second term. These miscalculations were only made possible by the suspension of reason, compromising principles and prioritising narrow factional agendas that placed party politics above the public good. People knowingly took a gamble by championing an undeserving candidate to the top seat – one that should be most sacred in a constitutional democracy and entrusted to the most deserving of people. Only the best among us should occupy that seat. Instead, many used their shortcomings as a standard of judgment for entry to the job of the president. It was as if the reasoning was that the one who is a sum total of our shortcomings must lead us; so that we may continue to be weak, deliberately fallible, corrupt, inept, unprofessional, nepotistic etc. without consequences, without accountability and with absolutely no harm to ourselves for the damage we would do to the country.

    Very quickly after the rise of the tsunami, the clouds of a political storm began to gather at a distant horizon. In the last few years the clouds have been visibly upon us, with sounds of thunder heavily drumming over us indicating the magnitude of the political tsunami that is about to wreak havoc in our country. Some people believe that we are past the worst, I believe it will be some time before the end, especially if society continues to respond with passivity as it has thus far. The first problem when wanting to take political action are the naysayers who downplay the crisis, thus dividing public opinion to the point of having the majority siding with those who commit wrong to society. In October 2008 former president Thabo Mbeki wrote a public letter to president Jacob Zuma warning him about the rise of a personality cult in the ANC. In that letter Mbeki mentioned many leaders he had worked with in the liberation struggle, the likes of Mark Shope, Leslie Massina, Duma Nokwe, Moses Mabhida, Frances Baard, Lilian Ngoyi, Walter Sisulu, Gertrude Shope, Govan Mbeki, Julius Nyerere, Ruth Matseoane, Sam Nujoma, Fish Keitsing, Kate Molale, Ahmed Kathrada, Mpho Motsamai, Bram and Molly Fischer and many others. He then stated that he had mentioned these leaders to “make essential and crucial points, central to the value system of our movement and struggle, that none of these heroes or heroines ever sought adulation in any manner that would turn them into cult figures. They never did anything, nor did we act in any way as we grew up in the liberation movement, which would result in our movement being enslaved in the cult of the individual.” In short, Mbeki was reaffirming the decades’ long belief that no one individual is above the ANC.

    Fikile Mbalula wrote to Mbeki in April 2009 with the greatest and most stinging venom, accusing Mbeki of betraying the ANC in how he had managed the whole issue of corruption and fraud charges around Zuma. According to him Mbeki had used “actions of conniving, manipulating people and advancing politics of patronage.” Mbalula told Mbeki that “Mandela handed you a vibrant and united ANC, yet at the twilight of your Presidency, you chose to betray everything that Mandela and those that came before him stood for, struggled for, and laid down their lives for. In a moment of intoxication with power, you forgot Madiba’s wise counsel and allowed our glorious movement to stumble on the edge of an abyss.” If indeed then the ANC was stumbling on the edge of an abyss, it has now arrived at the abyss. Mbalula’s words were almost premised on a belief that under Jacob Zuma there would be changing fortunes for the ANC in how it will be managed and how state institutions will be used for the advancement of people’s power and prosperity. Either he was wrong or he deliberately mislead the public knowing full well the individual he was supporting in Zuma.

     

    In 2014 I came to the unfortunate conclusion that Zuma had become bigger than the ANC. In an article I wrote I charged that:

    “Whilst it remains true that organistions can outlive individuals, it is also true that individuals are responsible for the demise of organisations. Zuma has presided over a weakening ANC. The ANC has weakened intellectually, politically and morally. It has become a party for wealth accumulation instead of a tool to politically educate society and govern it with distinct integrity. Hangers on of history want us to believe that there remains nobility in the doings of the present day ANC comparable to those of selfless service during the dark days of struggle.

    There are members of the ANC that have noble intentions, that want to see the country governed properly, that want to see the ANC regain its moral and credibility standing in society. These members are shut out and marginalised because the current ruling elite of the party is an antithesis of that. The broad membership of the ANC does not have control over this state of affairs, even if they may be delusional to believe otherwise.”

    It is this loss of control by the broad membership over its organisation that has further fermented the socio-political crisis that confronts South Africa. In 2012 Reuel Khoza had concisely captured the problem that was confronting South Africa. Writing in Nedbank’s annual report as its chairman he remarked, “Our political leadership’s moral quotient is degenerating and we are fast losing the checks and balances that are necessary to prevent a recurrence of the past. We have a duty to build and develop this nation and to call to book the putative leaders who, due to sheer incapacity to deal with the complexity of 21st century governance and leadership, cannot lead.”

    “South Africa is widely recognised for its liberal and enlightened Constitution, yet we observe the emergence of a strange breed of leaders who are determined to undermine the rule of law and override the Constitution.” It was Gwede Mantashe and Blade Nzimande who responded with great venom towards Khoza. Mantashe said “Any view expressed in the Nedbank annual report is based, at best, on the sympathy one has with those who throw stones at the ANC.” The Secretary-General of the ANC in 2012 must have felt that these stones thrown at the ANC were unwarranted because he belonged in the majority faction. Nzimande charged that “Khoza’s comments were built on the “media-backed liberal offensive” to discredit the ANC’s leadership, targeting particularly President Jacob Zuma.” It would be these types of criticisms by the likes of Khoza and others that made Nzimande to even call for a piece of legislation that would protect the president from insults.

    Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu had just in 2011 sent a passionate and heartfelt warning to the leadership of the ANC after the government had refused the Dalai Lama a visa to attend Tutu’s birthday celebrations. The Arch said, “Mr. Zuma, you and your Government don’t represent me. You represent your own interest and I am warning you. I really am warning you out of love. I’m warning you like I warned the Nationalists. I am warning you. One day, we will start praying for the defeat of the ANC Government. You are disgraceful. I want to warn you. You are behaving in a way that is totally at variance with the things for which we stood. I am warning you. I am warning you that we will pray as we prayed for the downfall of the Apartheid Government. We will pray for the downfall of a Government that misrepresents us. You have got a huge majority. That’s nothing. The Nationalists had a huge majority that was increasing. They bit the dust. Watch out, ANC Government. Watch out. Watch out. Watch out.” Tutu’s forthrightness with the truth had earned him these comments from Bheki Cele in July 2011, “Tutu must go home and shut up. He must remember one thing: He must follow Jesus and Jesus advises all of us. He is not a vice-Jesus Christ, he is not a deputy Jesus Christ.” Cele had previously attacked Desmond Tutu in 2006 while speaking to a crowd of Zuma supporters outside the Pietermaritzburg High Court. The crowd, organised among others by then ANC KwaZulu-Natal’s secretary Senzo Mchunu, was out to show support to Zuma during his application to have his corruption case thrown out of court.

    Why have I been at pains to recount these contemporary history events? We cannot arrive at the diagnosis of present day South Africa’s socio-political climate without undertaking a thorough reading of past events, understanding challenges confronted and opportunities missed to rectify the challenges. Today, our democracy is in crisis. In the three arms of the state it is only the judiciary that is holding ground and playing its role meaningfully, as envisaged in our constitution. An imminent threat is the possibility to have the judiciary politicised by having issues that should be resolved in the arena of politics relentlessly taken to court because of the dysfunctional nature of our political space, be it within political parties or in institutions such as parliament. Already, we hear this discourse that politicises the courts through such remarks as “judicial overreach” and “lawfare”. Thus, even if the courts are making rulings grounded in law, the popular narrative in the public is driven by attempts to accuse the courts of being politically bias and serving the interests of an opposition that is already accused of lawfare and forcing to govern through the courts. A missed point here is that if the governing party were holding the executive accountable in parliament some of these court cases would be unnecessary. Instead of accepting responsibility for its shortcomings, the leadership of the ruling party plays victim and begins to find a villain in our courts. This is a toxic emergence that must be nipped in the bud by society confirming the role of our courts and encouraging that the arena of politics be restored to its rightful place.

    The legislature and the executive have been co-opted into our present day’s political syndicate operations, by virtue of the ANC’s overwhelming presence in these institutions. In turn, the ANC has been hijacked by the political syndicate led by the president and the Guptas. They stripped the ANC of its central authority as the political leader of society by removing power from Luthuli House to Saxonwold where the Gupta compound is found. In today’s language we call this state capture. We might be impugning the integrity of this concept. State capture is not inherently bad. What can be bad are the motives that drive state capture. As a concept, politics is about capturing state power in order to implement a positive and emancipatory developmental vision. The Public Protector recognised this injustice committed to the concept of state capture and instead chose to title her report State OF Capture. What has been captured? The political project has been hijacked, captured and redefined to serve a clique of people that have turned our state coffers into a zama-zama scheme. Imagine a pyramid scheme, at first there are many people that benefit, they throw in a lot of money expecting greater returns. Slowly, people get caught that they are part of the pyramid scheme, in a mad rush some people try to disassociate with the actions of those that remain in charge. Those at the top of the zama-zama scheme are always coining the money until it is time they realise they are about to get caught upon which they fold the operations and flee as fugitives from justice into lands unknown. This is how things are most likely to end for those running the current political syndicate. Let us be bold to state that the socio-political climate in South Africa points to a crisis that is political in nature and leadership in particular.

     

    The problem of our time

    If we understand climate as “the prevailing trend of public opinion or of another aspect of life” we then realise that currently in South Africa we have a public opinion of saints and sinners. Among those who are saints today we count the likes of Vavi, Cele, Mchunu, Ramphosa, Sisulu, Mantashe, Nzimande, Zweli Mkhize, Jeff Radebe, Matthews Phosa and many others who ushered in the political tsunami that is wreaking havoc in our political landscape. These saints have earned their title not because they have repented but because they appear to have committed less sin by breaking away from what is viewed as the biggest sinner. Of course the community of faith that Diakonia associates with sees all sins as being equal and all sinners are called upon to repent and change course of their ways. It is always possible that some people will pretend to have repented, only to gain access, through performed righteousness, to state resources and serve the interests of their own friends, family and allied comrades. This time needs us to exercise the greatest public scrutiny on these new found saints.

    Most of these leaders who now want to lead the ANC supported president Zuma, some hoping to use him to relaunch their political careers that had vanished. Cyril Ramaphosa must have been a willing participant in Mangaung when he was made deputy president, knowing full well that he was being used by Zuma to have someone next to him who is palatable to the markets. Ramaphosa must have used Zuma hoping to relaunch his political career and fulfil longstanding ambitions of desiring to become president of South Africa. Those ambitions had been dashed when Mbeki became Mandela’s Deputy President. Of course in light of the formation of the new elites in post-apartheid South Africa we must ask the necessary question on whether or not a Ramaphosa president would not be an instance of “out with the Guptas and in with the Motsepes”. Ramaphosa is in the top 15 richest people in South Africa, according to Forbes. Patrice Motsepe, the richest black person in the country, is Ramaphosa’s brother-in-law. Jeff Radebe, another of today’s saints in the ANC, is also Motsepe’s brother-in-law. The making of elites is often around complex familial ties and these elites tend to influence the operations of the state through having trusted people in key positions of power in government in order to influence the regulatory frameworks of certain industries they are to do business in. We must then ask how we see the Motsepe family and avoid having the replacement of white elites with black elites that will still hold economic wealth for the preserve and benefit of a few in society – continuing our levels of inequality.

     

    Over the past weekend Gwede Mantashe captured very well the problem with the saints vs. sinners debate. He was responding to Lindiwe Sisulu who had accused him of failing to keep the ANC intact. Mantashe said, “We have six NEC members who all want to be president. It is the same NEC that should have held the ANC intact, but all are contesting each other.” In simple terms, from the current leadership, Mantashe is saying, none is better than the other when for the longest time they have been taking collective responsibility protecting the president and other decisions of the NEC that have torn the ANC apart and weakened it as a political force. In Mantashe’s remarks we can conclude that those who have been responsible for tearing up the ANC cannot be trusted with such an ardours task of rebuilding the movement. In this moment we reach a conclusion that South Africa’s socio-political climate has been visited by a tsunami and the chief agent of this political climate change is the ANC itself in its entirety. For this reason, the continued emission (growth) of the ANC has become undesirable for the road ahead.

     

    Are we ready to imagine a South Africa beyond the ANC in power?

    Perilous politics of the ANC have defocused national discourse from pertinent development issues. We should be occupied by innovative discussions that centre people and find solutions to the various challenges of poverty, unemployment, poor education, violence, underdevelopment and economic deprivation that confronts them. Economically we are faced with a crisis. Underperforming state owned enterprises that are unable to repay their loans without government scrambling around as the guarantor are a major threat that could trigger an economic downgrade into junk status at any moment if our creditors demand repayments en masse. Our public debt has increased as a percentage of GDP from 27.8% in 2008 to about 52% as we gather here in 2017, it has almost doubled in 10 years. We have been living beyond our means. This growing public debt coupled with a leadership that lacks vision and foresight to put us on a recovery path could act as an albatross that undermines prospects for a better life for all in years to come. We may have to see ourselves having to cut down on social spending to service this debt, meaning delivering even worse public goods than we do today. Education, health, water and sanitation, housing, all key fundamental human rights along with social security are at risk as our economy continues to struggle with little prospects for high growth coupled with a rising unemployment crisis. The perilous socio-political climate that we are caught up in makes it impossible for us to imagine a way out of this myriad of issues that could lead to social implosion, reversing years of what we thought was freedom but has not been given adequate meaning.

    In times of such uncertainty, it is when dictatorial regimes tend to emerge under the guise of unifying the country. I have genuine fear that we might not have elections in 2019 if the president chooses not to call the elections and unilaterally prolongs his stay in power, especially if his preferred candidate loses in the upcoming ANC national conference. That is if that conference itself sits and produces a credible outcome. I am also uncertain that our legal framework would be capable to deal with such defiance from the president. How do we anticipate such possible devastations and act to prevent them now, when we still have time? Dictators across the world tend to live comfortably in the midst of poverty.

    We must fight to rebuild this country today for the sake of humanity, to prevent another crime against humanity from occurring in our shores. Any political system that would lead to mass migration is a threat to humanity as that destitution would be worse than the current state wherein 55.5% of our population was said to be in poverty by 2015, living under R992 per person per month. According to Stats South Africa this means about 30.4-million South Africans were living in poverty in 2015.

    Much like with the global warming debacle, the reason why it is difficult to find a common course of action is because the elites are not in agreement about the nature of the crisis and the remedy necessary. I propose that the time to look beyond the ANC in South Africa’s political landscape has arrived. The present day ANC has demonstrated an inability to listen to veterans; it has an allergic reaction to the truth from religious leaders; it has long cast thinkers and intellectuals to the shadows and it has defined civil society and popular movements fighting for social justice as entities possibly leading a colour revolution sponsored by foreign powers. However, our elites in politics, business, civil society, religious institutions, academia and elsewhere are not in agreement on this point. While they continue to fight over this the country remains in ruins and edges closer to irreversible crisis.

    People have made an intellectual realisation that the ANC as a political project has reached a cul-da-sec. Emotionally they struggle to make this break and it is this irrational loyalty that serves as a base for the ANC to continue its politics in scavenging. In society, the majority of black people were politically demobilised as far back as 1994 when “one of our own” took over, we retreated to our homes to enjoy the fruits of freedom as our leaders would give us the best life envisaged. Little did we know that this would lead to great social distance and eventually lead to a trust deficit between leaders and society as leaders abused the trust placed in them by people. People now need to regather themselves and fight back for their country.

    What should be the role of the church? Rev. Dr. Mvume Dandala put it aptly in his opening remarks in May 2014 at the opening of the Seth Mokitimi Methodist Seminary Review Meeting. He said,

    “Historical writer after historical writer recognises the undisputable role that the Christian Church played in the formation of these titans [who changed the course of history towards liberation]. (cf. Andre Odendaal – The Founders – The Origins of the ANC and the struggle for Democracy in South Africa; jacana Media 2012) For the church to play this role requires a twin role: viz. that of producing Church leaders who will lead a church that is an asset to the future of the nation and secondly to produce men and women whose passion for a society that embraces the virtues of justice and righteousness knows no bounds. This process must forge these men and women in a furnace of formation that will leave them with such inner power as will not bend in the face of pressure to deviate from these values and virtues. Project nation building is unremitting in its demands for clarity of vision of what the “promised land” must be, for strength of will to pursue that vision and for capacity for bold and creative leadership that is the hallmark of those with the task of bringing the vision of the promised land to fruition.”

     

    These leaders exist in our society but not in a critical mass. Let us continue to build such leaders that will advance the cause of social justice, for the emancipation of all people in our country.

     

    I thank you,

    Visit our gallery here for images of the event.

  • CONVERSATIONS @ DIAKONIA: THE SOUTH AFRICA WE PRAY FOR – REVD DR FRANK CHIKANE

    CONVERSATIONS @ DIAKONIA: THE SOUTH AFRICA WE PRAY FOR – REVD DR FRANK CHIKANE

    CONVERSATIONS @ DIAKONIA: THE SOUTH AFRICA WE PRAY FOR ADDRESS BY THE REVEREND DR FRANK CHIKANE

    25 July 2017

    Denis Hurley Hall, Diakonia Centre, Durban

    The Chairperson of the Diakonia Council of Churches, Revd Ian Booth;

    The Executive Director, Ms Nomabelu Mvambo-Dandala;
    The rest of the Leadership of Diakonia;
    Esteemed Church Leaders;

    Leaders of the business community and civil society formations;
    Community leaders; the people of eThekwini and the rest of the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Province; Distinguished guests, brothers and sisters, comrades, ladies and gentlemen:

    Thank you for your invitation to participate in the Conversations@Diakonia.

    I must start by saying that WE LIVE IN EXTRA-ORDINARY TIMES! I feel like I’m in 1985, during the worst times in our struggle for liberation when we lived with the reality of death that was always lurking around. In this regard, the cellphone age is not very helpful. I’m happy we didn’t have cellphones during those days because they can pinpoint where I am. They can see even when I am given a lift. They see where I am turning, we are more vulnerable than we ever were. One day I said to my dear wife, please get me a cellphone that has no GPS capacity to ensure that they can’t track me. I wanted to throw away this sophisticated thing and make sure that I’m not tracked. That is where we are at the present moment. It’s extraordinary times!

    In May 2017 the Minister of Safety and Security (Police) said that there were more than 35 politically motivated murders in KZN since January 2016, that is, from the beginning of preparations for elections; during and after the local government elections in August 2016 – and the country goes on with life as if nothing has happened!

    In August 2016, it was reported that there were at least 20 political assassinations in the run up to the local government elections, most of them in KZN and neither the Independent Electoral Commission nor the President referred to this outrage at the election outcome announcement ceremony. More than 20 people died during an election – and these were candidates, not just ordinary people – and this country announces the election results and nobody refers to those deaths.

    We have become so cold. We have accepted that people just get shot and die anytime and there is no alarm, no headlines. In the olden days, it was the brutal apartheid security police who killed us. Now, it is comrades who shoot each other and if they don’t do it themselves, they contract killers to do it for them. Those of us who are outside KZN are beginning to worry, that the time may come when these “hit squads” that are operating here in KZN, will be unleashed nationally to deal with people at a national level, and, we take it lightly; it’s ok and we go on with life. I can’t believe South Africa!

    Since last year there has been overwhelming evidence related to the matter of “State Capture” to serve the interests of a handful of families in South Africa at the expense of the masses of our people. Now, all of us know that the monies involved amount to billions of Rands. This is not theory anymore or speculation, but no one has been arrested, and, there is no indication of any serious investigation as the state security organs are themselves captured.

    We struggled for liberation instead, we get captured by other forces. The police can’t do what they are supposed to do. The prosecuting authority can’t do what it is supposed to do. This suggests that the State entities are almost decimated; they are captured and are used to do the wrong things. Based on the above, it is clear that this country is in big trouble – we have a very serious problem. The state organs have been captured and they serve the interests of individuals and not the national security of the people. The whole justice cluster is being neutralised and the judges are the last to be targeted. If judges get captured we will be reduced to a classical mafia state. In a mafia state, criminals determine who gets arrested and who goes to jail. In a mafia state, they even decide on a judge as well as determine your sentence. In my view, that’s where we are heading to as a country.

    The former Public Protector recommended that a Judicial Commission of Enquiry be established to probe allegations of “State Capture” and we know that she had to duck and dive during the last days of her office as a Public Protector, to ensure that the information she had did not fall into the hands of those who are captured. She took a bold stand notwithstanding the risk that went with it before she retired. About ten months later the Commission is still a subject of debate instead of investigating the matter.

    Where in the world have you seen a situation where the person who is a subject of allegations made, remains the person who has to make the decision about the Commission that has to investigate the allegations? It just does not make sense. This happens only in dictatorships rather than in a democracy.

    The evidence coming from the Public Protector’s report, the report of the South African Council of Churches’ (SACC) Unburdening Panel, and the latest trove of Gupta related emails (what is now called “Guptaleaks”) is frightening. It is loads and loads of evidence and indicators suggesting that people acted with impunity. They operated like nobody would ever know about it, it was brazen. They did whatever they did without much effort to hide their tracks because they believed that they had so much power or, were covered by people in powerful places that they did not need to worry.

    As you would know, I’ve said before that, those who think power does not come to an end, are making a big mistake. Power does come to an end. When you have power you must use it in a responsible way because the day will come when power will come to an end, unless you are God! Nobody has held power forever. There are these dictators who took over governments on the continent after those countries became free, but they were 21, 22, 23 year old soldiers at the time. They had say 40 years more to govern. They worked on the basis that they were young and wouldn’t die soon, and could relax. They believed that nobody would pursue them or persecute them. Where we are now is the internet age, you can’t do this for long. It will come to an end, sooner than later.

    With regard to all these Gupta emails, I managed the Executive Ethics Code as secretary of Cabinet when I was in government, and I must say that many of the ministers who are implicated would fail the test of these Executive Ethics Codes. Many of them would lose their jobs about things they have done which they should not have done, yet they do it openly and Parliament just doesn’t do anything about it. One could go on and on.

    THIS FOR ME IS NOT THE SOUTH AFRICA WE STRUGGLED FOR AND MANY DIED FOR!

    The worst is that people think they can move money around – from one account to another, including moving it or laundering it – without being accountable to anybody. It’s the tax that’s going to catch up with them. The best way to catch a criminal who enriches himself or herself in a criminal way is to check the tax. Tax issues will follow them for many years to come.

    The shocking part of the crisis we are facing is that the rot involves comrades we have been in the trenches together with, and in jail or in exile with. One day we are going to have to sympathise with them or cry with their families when we see them sitting in jail. It’s not going to be nice seeing people arrested and sentenced to jail terms. But when we say to them ‘stop what you are doing’, they don’t stop. Instead they lie and defend themselves whilst continuing with their criminal activities.

    What is more painful and hurting for me is that almost all the veterans and stalwarts of the liberation movement, who die now, die with a sore heart. The veterans who died during the first ten years or so of the new democratic South Africa went away happy with what was happening in this country. But veterans that are passing away now – starting from Sister Bernard Ncube through to Comrade Ahmed Kathrada (Kathy) and to Mama Emma Mashinini – go with deep pain in their hearts. In fact Sister Bernard said that she could not believe this is the South Africa she suffered and sacrificed her life for. Comrade Kathy left us the letter he sent to the President which speaks for itself and has become the best message Comrade Kathy has left us.

    Mme Mashinini, a trade unionist par excellence, who passed away recently, left us her book where she expresses her disappointment about what comrades were doing with the new South Africa she struggled and suffered for. She talks of ‘the hell’ South Africa had fallen into and about the leadership that was forcefully driving the country in a direction that, in her own words, was “so different from what we fought for and looked forward to.” She did not see an end to it “because the leaders are involved in it.”

    Whilst billions are being stolen by a handful of families in this country many of our people continue to live under conditions of abject poverty. We did not engage in a liberation struggle for our people to remain poor (or the same). There are places in the country where it looks like the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) never arrived. One example for me is one of the townships I visited in Kroonstad. The other is Mbalenhle in Secunda. The opposite of this reality is Soweto where every little road is tarred and where pavements are becoming part of the feature of the township, and so forth.

    There are councillors who are elected democratically in those townships but nothing happens. It does not make sense. People say, in those failing townships, ‘we are becoming poor as others become rich.’ And this is done at their expense.

    We as South Africans thought we were not the same as others. We thought we could achieve what others couldn’t. We were very idealistic about our vision. We defied apartheid because we wanted a just and equitable country and an ideal society. It was almost utopian. The churches found it easy to engage with concepts of a classless society and an equitable society as these were compatible with their theological concept of the “Kingdom of God.” This made lots of sense to lots of us, reading the scriptures. Thus our expectations of the type of society we envisioned were very high.

    This is why the SACC has reduced its overall vision to ‘The South Africa We Pray For.’

    “THE SOUTH AFRICA WE PRAY FOR”

    This vision is a product of the renewed Council of Churches, which was in its death throes by June 2013, when all the staff at the Head Office were retrenched and the General Secretary later suspended. In the light of this crisis, former General Secretaries of the SACC came together and developed strategies to save the SACC, and bring it back to life as well as reposition it to play its prophetic role again. This resulted in the February 2014 National Conference, which elected new leadership to pursue the renewal programme ending up with a clear vision by December 2015.

    The vision took the form of ‘The South Africa We Pray For.’ As many of you would know the vision has five pillars. These are:

    (1) Healing and Reconciliation

    (2) Fabric of Family Life

    (3) Poverty and Inequality

    (4) Economic Transformation, and

    (5) Anchoring Democracy

    The Anchoring of Democracy pillar includes issues of governance, maladministration, corruption and the challenge of loss of public trust in public institutions. This is where the “Unburdening Panel,” which is now a reference point for many comes from.

    In the Pastoral Letter on the report of the “Unburdening Panel”, we talk about the PROMISE of post apartheid South Africa, that is:

    “A just, reconciled, sustainable and equitable society free of racial, tribal, ethnic, xenophobic and gender prejudices, free of corruption and deprivation and with enough food and shelter for every citizen, and for each child born to grow to their God given potential.”

    That’s the type of society we struggled for and this is the society we are now praying for. But prayer is not just a passive action. It means working for it. So, over and above saturating the country with prayer, which Church Leaders decided on in March 2015, it was agreed that the best way in which we can turn these pillars of ‘The South Africa We Pray For’ into reality was through what was conceptualised as a ‘ward-based form of ecumenism’ where local churches act together at local levels (where people are) to deal with challenges people are experiencing.

    This is a new approach to deal with the weakness of traditional national forms of ecumenism that is expressed through leaders at a national level but doing nothing together at the local level where people are. Ward-based ecumenism finds its expression at the point of implementation of the programmes or activities encapsulated in the SACC vision referred to above which include Healing and Reconciliation; Family Fabric; Poverty and Inequality; Economic Transformation and; Anchoring Democracy.

    RESOLUTIONS OF THE SACC NATIONAL CONFERENCE

    At the June 2017 National Conference of the SACC the delegates preferred the use of the word ‘community’ form of ecumenism rather than ‘ward-based’ form of ecumenism. The view was that the word ‘ward’ was a government concept. Although this made sense to the Conference what the word ‘community’ loses is the geographic or spatial dimension of the concept of a ‘ward’. The concept of ‘local ecumenism’ was ward-based, and is more geographic than community-based.

    My view is that we should leave the semantics to academics and focus instead on what we would like to achieve. What we want to see is churches within a particular geographic area working together to deal with challenges expressed through the vision of the SACC. This is the only way in which our ecumenism will be effective. The day we will say that we have an effective ecumenical movement is when local churches work together to deal with challenges, which are facing the people where they are. As long as we work in silos we will not be able to achieve the objectives we committed ourselves to.

    The National Conference adopted a number of other resolutions related to the national crisis in the country. One of them deals with “State Capture” following the report of the Unburdening Panel. By February this year, the Panel had gathered enough information which suggested that some of the key ministers and key organs of government and state entities were captured to an extent that government was now serving the interests of individuals or specific families and not the people of South Africa. This raised the question of the ‘moral legitimacy’ of government.

    The last time we dealt with the ‘legitimacy of the State’ was at the height of the struggle against the apartheid regime in the mid-1980s. For me, the spectre of declaring a democratically elected or constituted government morally illegitimate was unimaginable. When it was first raised in February, I resisted it and felt that it was going too far. But by March, the evidence was so overwhelming that one could not resist it anymore. What was more frightening was that the capture of government had reached a state where parallel institutions outside government were making decisions about the resources of the country. This amounted to surrendering the sovereignty of the State to private individuals and foreign entities. At this stage we could have declared the government as constitutionally illegitimate. But the churches left this to the legal fraternity.

    The level of surrender of our sovereignty is practically demonstrated by what the Mayor of Ekurhuleni said to the President a few months ago in a public meeting. He pleaded with the President to ask the Guptas to ‘allow’ them to govern or ‘give’ the party ‘space’ to conduct its business. This shocking disposition of the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) was repeated in the joint press briefing by Comrades David Mabuza and Sihle Zikalala who said exactly the same thing – asking for the Gupta’s to give them space to conduct their business.

    I just can’t believe that we have come to a stage where we have to plead with an individual or family to give us space to run our country. What has happened to us? We must be ashamed of ourselves!

    The failure of government leaves Parliament as the only entity that can stop government or the Executive surrendering the sovereignty of the countries to individuals or foreign entities. If Parliament fails to stop state capture, it would have to dissolve and allow for a national election, as the National Conference of the SACC resolved.

    The other critical decision by the Conference was that the SACC should convene a National Convention to build a new consensus on our national values. To help South Africa to arrive at a common basis for a common, reconciled citizenship; a reconciled social and economic dispensation for the realisation of the post apartheid promise that we worked for.

    The challenge though is that if leaders are elected within their party on a corrupt basis there is no reason why they would not try to corrupt the national election. Given the capture of the State it is risky as to what will happen between now and the elections in 2019. Either the governing party is able to reinvent itself, change its trajectory and liberate itself from the forces that are capturing it or its dominant faction, or if they fail, the nation will have to be the last line of defence.

    The worry though is that the way in which those who are captured behave – in such a reckless manner – suggests that they don’t need to have popular support of the people. And, if you act in a way that you don’t need it, then there must be a plan of how you will remain in power. The dominant group within the governing party (government) seem not to care much about what they say or do and don’t seem to worry about what the masses of the people think or feel. This would suggest, and this is the sensitive part, that they are not planning to rely on the will of the people, but a manipulation of the process to produce the results they want.

    In this regard, we must do everything possible to defend the 2019 elections in this country. If we fail we are gone. And, this is where the ward or community-based forms of ecumenism comes in. We need to link up the churches at a local level to develop a strong operational presence to be able to create an effective observer system for the elections at all voting stations.

    I have learned in dealing with other conflict situations that the best way to defend the integrity of an electoral system and the outcome thereof is to focus on a voting station through party agents and observers or monitors to see the ballot papers arriving; watch the voting process; empty ballot boxes in the presence of all; seal them; watch the counting; and have all affected parties and observers sign the relevant form and; let all affected parties have copies as of the original form sent to the results centre. If this is done in all voting stations no one can corrupt the election processes.

    But, not all parties can be at every voting station around the country. That is why we need churches and communities where these voting stations are to be able to get volunteers to act as observers in all voting stations. Unless you are organised to that level, you will need donors to assist you to monitor elections because it is going to be expensive.

    We must make sure there is an observer at every voting station twenty-four (24) hours, around the clock until the elections are declared. That is the only way in which we can deal with the possibility of election rigging. There’s no short cut to it. We don’t need to depend on a donor. The churches are there at the local level.

    A study of one ward in Soweto, that is, ward 14 showed that there were about 21 well-established churches in this ward. And, given that on the average there are about 200 people who attend services per church on a Sunday, we should have the capacity to monitor each voting station with the least possible costs. We must aim to have six (6) monitors per voting station to make sure that our presence is guaranteed. The community (local/ward) based form of ecumenism should enable us to achieve this objective. The only unavoidable costs are for training of observers, their management, supervision and trouble-shooting.

    One sure thing, we are not going to allow anybody to corrupt our elections come 2019. I believe that this country can mobilise itself to defend the integrity of the elections. For me, it does not matter what method you use to mobilise the people to defend the elections. What we want is for you to get six (6) people per voting station who can walk to the station rather than those who need to be transported there to ensure that there are no mistakes that can be made or mishaps. We don’t need people who monitor as to whether or not people are fighting outside of the voting station only. But we want people who will sit at the voting station for twenty-four (24) hours to defend our democracy that people sacrificed for.

    The church can do that. The church forms a quorum every Sunday where members are ministered to. This is useless or latent energy that comes to the church just to come and be blessed and go away, while there is trouble in the streets. The church can’t be there just for itself. It must be there for the people. And, until we reach that stage, we are not what God wants us to be!

    Lastly, we need to act as catalysts to help resolve the economic crisis the country is facing, especially the challenge of including the black majority in the economy. As long as the historically disadvantaged because of the racist apartheid system remain outside the mainstream of the economy in this country, we will never have peace and stability. We need radical solutions to level the playing field to an extent that no one’s historical conditions, say, of poverty, will determine one’s future.

    This is where the ‘Poverty and Inequality’ and the ‘Economic Transformation’ pillars of our vision come in.

    We need to play our role as the Creator leads us in all these areas.

    MAY GOD BLESS YOU.

  • “PRINCE OF LIGHT: RENEW LOVE AND PEACE”

    ECUMENICAL ADVENT CELEBRATION 6 DECEMBER 2016

     

    Prince
    Revd Olga Dlamini lights the candle during Advent Celebration

    READINGS: Isaiah 601-7 ;  and John 11-14

    The theme for this year: “Prince of Light: Renew Love and Peace” is a continuation of the  message of the 40th anniversary year of Diakonia: keeping the social justice flame alive. For during Advent we are reminded that the light has come into the world, and that the darkness will never extinguish it. And this is a reminder that we need to hold onto, for it is easy to forget, and to give in to the darkness of despair. We enter the season of Advent against a scary backdrop of world and local affairs. Internationally, Brexit and the election of Donald Trump are symptoms of a swing to the right in reaction to fear: fear of losing what is ours to those who come in from outside. This promotes national identity, clinging to what is mine, and rejecting as demonic what is not like me. The politicians to the right of the spectrum feed off this, and promote the message of fear, and present themselves as the only ones who are able to protect the populace from the threat of the outsider. The liberal politicians, they claim, will swing open the doors and welcome in all and sundry, and our country will go down the tubes. Brexit and Donald Trump are two symptoms of this worrying shift. Worrying, because of the fear that is stoked by their rhetoric. And fear brings darkness, fostering a tunnel vision down which we can only peer desperately looking for the light at the end of the tunnel. Locally, we are watching the onetime liberation movement which had the sympathy, if not direct support, of most of us slowly implode as a political party, with a serious leadership vacuum and deep divisions within, which impair its ability to govern. And a President who is like Teflon, because nothing seems to stick to him. During the 16 Days of Activism against violence against women and children we are reminded of the horrifying frequency of rape in our country, and of the abuse of women and children by men who are often victims of their circumstances. We are in the midst of a crisis in higher education, currently manifesting as the #Fees must Fall Campaign, and are conscious that a student from DUT, Bonginkosi Khanyile, has been in prison for 69 days, and is likely to remain there as bail has consistently been denied, and the case has been postponed until 19 January. I mention this detail because the continued detention of this young man provokes the fires of protest and makes it harder to find rational solutions. This is the backdrop for this season of Advent.

    The President believes that the Church should stick to praying, and not criticising him and his party – which is what he believes is political interference. He chooses to forget the social justice role of the church, particularly the English speaking mainline church, during the struggle to end apartheid. Unfortunately for him, these days, we have never sought the permission of the President, or of government, to engage in action for social change, in pursuit of a new and better society. For we take our cue from the Prince of Light, the Prince of Peace, who was consistent in his support for the lowest and the least in his society. In the midst of the divisions in our society, we need to be reminded of the central message proclaimed in word and deed by Jesus, the Christ – and then be challenged to assimilate that so that we can be the Christ in the world today. Jesus did not stick to praying – he prayed, and he spoke, and he acted, and he challenged, for he sought an inclusive society.

    Isaiah addresses the people of Judah during their exile, and encourages them to “Arise, shine, for your light has come.” Thick darkness will cover the world, but the glory of the Lord will arise on you, and people will be attracted to your light, and come and seek it. A word of hope, a word of encouragement, a word of reversed fortunes and restoration. In the Gospel according to John we are told of John the Baptiser who testified about the Light which shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. These two passages encourage us to believe in the power of the Light – a light which shines in the darkness. And the light will shine when we promote inclusion and community and love and peace. When we retreat to our silos and shut others out, and regard them with growing suspicion and mistrust, which evolves into irrational hatred, darkness begins to envelop us. I recently came across a slogan which reads: “We were all humans until Race disconnected us, Religion separated us, Politics divided us, and Wealth classified us” We were all humans created in the image of God before religions and creeds and doctrines were invented, or felt necessary. We were all humans before we realised that not all people look the same, and some have evolved in different ways to others, and now they are different, and because they are different and not like us they must pose a threat to us. We were all humans – and Christ is calling us to become humans again, and to open our minds and spirits to see the image of God in ourselves and in others, and to embrace what we have in common rather than fear what makes us different.

    Two shepherds were engaged by a rabbi, who asked them: “How are you able to tell that the night is ending and a new day is about to begin?” The first shepherd said: “When I look up at the hill, and can tell that the shape I see is a tree, and not a predator, I know that the night is ending and a new day is about to begin” The second shepherd said: “When I look across the field and can tell the difference between the sheep and the sheepdog I know that the night is ending and a new day has begun” They both looked at the rabbi, who said: “When I look into the eyes of another human being, and see there the eyes of a sister or brother, then I know that the night is ending and a new day has begun”

    Prince
    Revd Ian Booth delivers sermon

    Our role, as followers of God in the way of Jesus, is to see the eyes of brothers and sisters in all the people we meet, so that the new day will always be dawning, and the darkness of night recedes. The Prince of Light will renew love and peace when we are able to live in love and peace with our brothers and sisters, when we are seeking always to turn neighbours into brothers and sisters, and so together seek and promote love and peace in our world.

    In this Advent season, let us be the light in the midst of the darkness that threatens to cover our nation and the world in fear of the other. Be the light by actively promoting community and fellowship and family, by seeking all the ways we can to find ways of building on our common humanity, of seeking that which we have in common as humans, and actively promoting those things. Because the light has come – and we are sent to be that light, and to bear witness to the light that the darkness will never overcome. Come Prince of Light: Renew Love and Peace – beginning with us.

    By Revd Ian Booth – Chairperson, Diakonia Council of Churches.

     

  • SOCIAL JUSTICE FLAME RE-IGNITED AT DIAKONIA’S 40TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS

    Diakonia Council of Churches reaffirmed their and the churches role to develop and strengthen social justice activism and get the next generation of activists excited about working for social justice and human rights at their 40th commemorative gala dinner at the Greyville Convention Centre on Friday 25 November.

    Chairperson of Diakonia Council of Churches, Revd Ian Booth welcomed the guests who included former anti-apartheid activists, church leadership, business, political and civil society organisations. Revd Booth said it was important to reflect upon, and celebrate the 40-year milestone of service to the community of Durban in working towards a transformed society in South Africa.

    Revd Frank Chikane, guest speaker for the evening brought up the role youth have played in transformation. “The #FeesMustFall protests have brought in a startling reality of the contradictions that we are facing in this country – that 22 years after our freedom, there are still be people who are not be able to live normal lives, not able to have food on their tables and a roof over their heads, not able to travel to work and not just work for the travel costs. The students have made us understand that actually twenty years later, ‘I’m still defined by how poor my parents are. And that the possibilities of accessing my rights depend on where I was born.  If I was born in the wrong place then I can’t get the opportunities that others get.’ That is why church leaders were in solidarity with the students because we are saying the conditions or the historical place you were born must not determine your future.  The fact that your parents were poor in a liberated South Africa must not determine your future.  Can we create a society where the poor will have the same possibilities as what God wants them to be? I think that is the greatest challenge.” he said.

    Chikane said the churches need to come together beyond the boundaries of denominations to deal with the social issues affecting South Africa. “The vision of Diakonia is very relevant, a transformed society actively working for social justice. We need to return to radical ecumenism of Denis Hurley when he started Diakonia, break the walls of separation between churches and the people. Churches must be agents of change.” he added.

    The evening included a panel chaired by Alex Mthiyane, consisting of Xolani Dube, Nompilo Mkhize and Revd Paul Verryn.

    In a symbolic dedication of the theme for the night: “Keeping the Social Justice Flame Alive,” former director of Diakonia, Paddy Kearney, current executive director Nomabelu Mvambo-Dandala as well as young people from various churches and organisations ignited torches, showing their passion to continue with the work of social justice and the transformation the elders had started.

    The youth play an integral part in transforming society, Mvambo-Dandala said. She was happy to hand over the baton to young leaders and happy to see the new generation of social justice activists play a role.

    Bishop Rubin Phillip toasted Diakonia’s forty years which he said was a very significant period. “It is a time to look back and also to look forward and give thanks for the leaders of the past and the young people that take over the torch for the future,”

    Revd Booth together with current executive director Mvambo-Dandala and former director Kearney cut the cake in celebration at the function and South African singer, Lloyd Cele entertained the guests.

    diakonia40th-36 diakonia40th-18 48lcdiakonia-13 48lcdiakonia-2

     

  • Celebrate Diakonia’s 40th Anniversary

    Celebrate Diakonia’s 40th Anniversary: Commemoration Gala Dinner

    Greyville Convention Centre: Friday 25 November

    Diakonia Council of Churches celebrates 40 years of working for a transformed society. To acknowledge this important milestone, a gala dinner will be hosted at Greyville Convention Centre on Friday 25 November, themed Keeping the Social Justice Flame Alive!

    The keynote address will be presented by respected author, cleric and activist Frank Chikane. Entertainment will be provided by musician Lloyd Cele, who was runner-up in the 2010 South Africa version of Idols.

    “The primary purpose of the commemoration is to reflect on the prevailing challenges plaguing our beloved country and to highlight some of the important signs of hope that present possibilities for the realisation of the South African dream, and to reignite, strengthen and develop a new generation of social justice activists,” suggests Nomabelu Mvambo-Dandala: Executive Director of Diakonia Council of Churches.

    “And of course, the commemoration will be an opportunity to reconnect with our network of friends, past and present. We also hope to initiate new friendships with a view to increase the pool of ambassadors, primarily for the sustainability of our organisation going forward. More importantly, this will be an opportunity to pass the baton for social justice activism to the emergent generation of social justice activists, regardless of age.

    “The event will also reposition Diakonia as a major role player in reigniting the social justice flame, and contribute to its financial sustainability, particularly in light of the much needed services that are adversely affected by the drastically changed funding climate. Against this, tables will be sold to offset some of the commemoration costs and more importantly, to contribute to the long term financial sustainability of our organisation,” she continues. 

    Diakonia is probably best known for its annual ecumenical Good Friday Service which involves a silent early morning procession through the streets of Durban.

    The Diakonia Council of Churches is an ecumenical, inter-church agency, working with churches and church organisations in the pursuit of a more just society striving for an improved quality of life for the poor, as well as changes in attitudes and structures which perpetuate injustice. It was founded in the 70s by the late Archbishop Denis Hurley who shared his vision of an ecumenical organisation to work for justice in the Greater Durban Area. It was formally established exactly 40 years ago, headed by Paddy Kearney, who continued to serve Diakonia until 2004.

    The evening will boast a plated gala dinner and an opportunity to hear author / activist and cleric, Frank Chikane whose former appointments include Deputy President of the United Democratic Front, member of the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress, commissioner of the Independent Electoral Commission, director-general in the presidency and general secretary of the South African Council of Churches. He will be reflecting on the theme of Keeping the Social Justice Flame Alive!

    Entertainment for the evening will be courtesy of bubbly local musician: Lloyd Cele who has won a SAMA award for Best Pop Album, a MetroFM, ChannelO and Wawela nominee. He is an executive producer, a diverse artist who plays guitar, piano, bass and saxophone best known for being the runner up in the 2010 Idols.

    For more info, or to book, ph 031 310 3500 / reception@diakonia.org.za.

    Nomabelu Mvambo-Dandala: Executive Director of Diakonia Council of Churches with staff and volunteers Pic Val Adamson
    Nomabelu Mvambo-Dandala: Executive Director of Diakonia Council of Churches with staff and volunteers
    Pic Val Adamson
    Volunteer Kim Ly Lam and dancer Nothando Maphumulo communicate the theme of the 2015 Diakonia Good Friday Service. Pic Val Adamson
    Volunteer Kim Ly Lam and dancer Nothando Maphumulo communicate the theme of the 2015 Diakonia Good Friday Service.
    Pic Val Adamson
    A scene from the 2016 Diakonia Good Friday Service – taken from the Durban City Hall balcony with participants below Pic Illa Thompson
    A scene from the 2016 Diakonia Good Friday Service – taken from the Durban City Hall balcony with participants below
    Pic Illa Thompson

  • KEEPING THE SOCIAL JUSTICE FLAME ALIVE!

    DIAKONIA’S 40th ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATION GALA DINNER

    Over the years, Diakonia Council of Churches (hereinafter referred to as Diakonia) has enjoyed a rich history within Durban, South Africa and internationally. Its rich history has enabled the organisation to survive throughout the past years, regardless of the challenging funding climate.

     In light of the 40 years of working for a transformed society (i.e. 1976 -2016), on Friday 25 November 2016 Diakonia will commemorate its proud history – which has not been without challenges  –  at the Greyville Convention Centre, Durban from 6.00pm for 6.30pm.

    The primary purpose of the commemoration is not so much to dwell on the past, but to:

    • Reflect on the prevailing challenges plaguing our beloved country – with the past in mind;
    • Highlight some of the important signs of hope that present possibilities for the realisation of the South African dream and;
    • Reignite, strengthen and develop a new generation of social justice activists.

    Without doubt, we envisage that the commemoration will be an opportunity to reconnect with our past and present network of friends, while initiating potential friends, with a view to increase the pool of ambassadors – primarily for the sustainability of our organisation going forward.  More importantly, this will be an opportunity to pass the baton for social justice activism to the emergent generation of social justice activists, regardless of age.

    The event will also reposition Diakonia as a major role player in reigniting the social justice flame, and contribute to its financial sustainability, particularly in light of the much needed services that are adversely affected by the drastically changed funding climate.  Against this, tables will be sold to offset some of the commemoration costs and more importantly, to contribute to the long term financial sustainability of our organisation.

    In light of your association with Diakonia and your continued commitment to social justice, we invite you to join us in marking this major milestone in the life of our organisation – under the theme:

    Keeping the Social Justice Flame Alive!

    Sincerely, I trust that on further reflection you will find it in your heart to support this venture, regardless of your proximity.

    Your partner in transforming society

    Nomabelu Mvambo-Dandala

    EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

  • DIAKONIA AWARD FOR MADONSELA

    DIAKONIA AWARD FOR MADONSELA

    Public Protector Adv Thulisile Nomkhosi ‘Thuli’ Madonsela has been conferred with the Diakonia Human Rights Award for ‘extraordinary courage, patriotism and steadfast opposition to injustice, corruption and maladministration.’

    Adv Madonsela was honoured during the annual Diakonia Lecture, which she also delivered, on 8 September.

    In the citation, the Diakonia Council noted her unwavering commitment to seeing public officials manage state power and public resources in a manner that is accountable and responsive to the rights and needs of all.

    Describing her as a ‘shining star’ and a ‘breath of fresh air’ who has inspired hope among millions of citizens, the Council said, “Adv Madonsela has worked tirelessly, notwithstanding severe criticism, at times at the risk of her own life. Her courage, determination, integrity and ability to tirelessly pursue one of the world’s toughest and most dangerous battles have made her a household name to millions of South Africans who have been longing for ethical and principled leadership.”

    Adv Madonsela was described as a person of integrity, with ‘not even the hint of an ethical stain’ who has set a very high bar in the exercise of her duties and ‘left a blameless template for her successor to adopt.’

    “She has not compromised her values for cheap gain as we see all over the place in our society today. In her unwavering commitment to a fairer and more just South Africa and to the delivery of the constitutional dream of a democratic society where every citizen’s potential is freed and quality of life is improved, she has assured herself a place in the history of this great nation. Hers is the best exemplification of progressive humanism,” the citation read.

    Earlier delivering the annual Lecture, Adv Madonsela urged citizens to work closely with her office in bringing cases of corruption and maladministration to her office’s attention for investigation.

    She noted that there is no dignity in poverty and lamented that 22 years into democracy, millions of South Africans are still mired in poverty. She gave an example of the notorious Glebelands Hostel where she saw for herself the inhumane living conditions of the hostel community.

    “The living conditions there were totally inhumane. There was water everywhere, and rubbish had not been collected. We were struck by obscene poverty, people are sharing one room. You never imagined that that is how people would live,” she said.

    Adv Madonsela said there is a need to ignite the passion for social justice activism and added that freedom in poverty is meaningless.

    She ended by giving a word of advice to her successor: “To my successor, the important thing is that your job is to protect the people and nobody else. In doing so, it is important to have good relationships with the government but you must not have allegiances. Sometimes you will have to choose between a cordial relationship and the truth.”

  • WHO IS MY NEIGHBOUR?

    WHO IS MY NEIGHBOUR?

    Reflecting on the August local government elections during the Annual Meeting, Diakonia Chairperson, Revd Ian Booth, urged the church to be born again with a new identity where none are excluded from being brothers and sisters.

    In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Revd Booth noted that the most despised “other” was the hero because he was the best example of a neighbour.

    He said, “Our response to the question ‘who is my neighbour?’ must begin where Jesus ends off: go and be a good neighbour to others. We must overcome our discomfort, put aside our prejudice, and be a good neighbour to the one who does not belong to our family, who is not like us, who does not live in the same place as us, who speaks a different language, practices a different religion, and makes us feel uncomfortable.”

    Revd Booth added that the message of the reign of God speaks of a new humanity whose identity comes from the image of God planted in each one of us. “When Jesus speaks to Nicodemus of new birth he speaks of the need to take on this new identity in which the old divisions of race, gender and nationality and economic class into which we are born no longer count,” he said.

    One good example of being a neighbour, Revd Booth said, is to rise to the challenge of being a leader in the crucial task of nation building and conciliation in South Africa.

    “In an apparent leadership vacuum, someone needs to step up to the plate and take the lead in pulling the nation through the crisis and finding a place of healing and renewal. If it is not people of faith who do this, it will be people with other agendas and motives who seek to control the destiny of this nation in ways that feed their agenda. Each of us needs to ask what we can do to rewrite the script and show that there is a different way of living and relating,” Revd Booth said.

    It would be incorrect to think that the divisions in the South African society that have come to the fore as a result of the 2016 elections will disappear after the elections. He said, ” People are dying, cities are burning, the people are deeply unhappy. It is naïve to believe that once the local government elections are over the tensions and camps and divisions will disappear, and we will live together in harmony. These have been simmering for years, and have come to a head in this election cycle.

    “It becomes incumbent upon us to change this picture by the way we live and relate to others. The words we speak, the signals we transmit by our unspoken attitudes, the messages we convey by our actions; these will be the measures of our commitment and contribution to a new and transformed society,” he said.

  • Bruised but healed through the cross

    Bruised but healed through the cross

    “Our souls, soil and society need healing. But first we need to lance the boils to release the ugliness within. This is the way of the crucifixion on the cross, a terribly painful experience.”

    Methodist Bishop of the Natal Coastal District, Mike Vorster, told thousands of worshippers while delivering the sermon during the early morning annual ecumenical Good Friday service at the Durban Exhibition Centre, under the theme Bruised but healed through the cross, on 25 March.

    “The legacy of Apartheid has left festering wounds in three areas: our souls; soil and society. There are still so many things around us that bruise our souls daily: rejection, betrayal, the lingering trauma of racism, violence, sexism, rape, xenophobia, Afrophobia, exclusion, poverty,” he said.

    Bishop Vorster decried the expropriation of the soil from its indigenous owners in the past through centuries of violent colonisation adding that even in this day the soil continues to be stolen from indigenous people to make way for greedy corporates who already have more than they need.

    Our soil, he said, has become what author Karen Armstrong calls ‘Fields of blood.’ “We have poisoned the soil and will continue to do so through fracking; more mining; nuclear waste from nuclear plants and the list goes on. With the exponential development of unchecked technology, we are now at a time when we will not only see fields of blood, but the mutilation and destroying of the earth in its entirety,” Bishop Vorster said.

    He also called for a boycott of Australian products in the wake of the gunning-down of Sikhosiphi ‘Bazooka’ Rhadebe, leader of the Amadiba Crisis Committee who are resisting titanium mining on the Wild Coast by an Australian company, Mineral Commodities Limited.

    When we talk of the healing our society, he said, we need to speak simultaneously of socio-political and economic influences.

    On healing of our society, Bishop Vorster said, our souls need to be on fire as we confront those who are allegedly holding our fledgling democracy to ransom through the so-called capture of our state by wealthy business people. “With the revelations of the so-called capture of state, is this not a Kairos moment when all of us need to have a ‘crisis of conscience? Are not NGOs economically captured by donors? Are not churches economically captured by the big givers who want to dictate how the church should be run? Are not churches captured by money through the prosperity Gospel? Is not the private sector captured to the practise of profit before people? We also need to investigate the wealthy white elite who allegedly keep black people out of their white economic club unless they bring political favour,” he said.

    Bishop Vorster said corrupt leaders should be removed from office but was quick to point out that this removal would not automatically translate to elimination of corruption.

    He said “Yes we can remove leaders who are corrupt and this must happen, but will it guarantee that others who follow will not do likewise? The key practises for all those in leadership and their followers are: honesty; integrity and accountability.”

    Current efforts by civil society to bring healing need to be intensified. “Let us form thousands of groups throughout the land where the poor; the oppressed begin to tell their stories of pain in safe spaces and move from victims to wounded healers, whereby dignity is restored,” Bishop Vorster said.

    He concluded by warning that the path to national healing is not going to be an easy one. “Let us remember that the cross as an instrument was meant to ensure maximum pain. This could be likened to the needle which pierces the boil that needs lancing as a metaphor for the pain of sacrificial; courageous and honest conversations we need to have with each other as South Africans.

    “The late Nobel Peace laureate, Inkosi Albert Luthuli, once said: ‘Freedom comes via the cross’. This will be a costly journey for the soul. It would mean taking up our cross daily of voluntary personal and communal sacrifice and through this sacrifice make a new world possible,” he ended.

    After the first part of the service, worshippers then processed in meditative silence to the steps of the City Hall where the flowered cross was lifted up as a sign of the hope that the cross of Christ will heal us of our multiple-woundedness.

  • Ubuntu in SA a myth – Oakley-Smith

    Ubuntu in SA a myth – Oakley-Smith

    South Africans have allowed themselves to believe in the myths of Ubuntu and the ‘rainbow nation’ and these have prevented the nation from moving forward in addressing racism. This is according to Teresa Oakley-Smith, Founder and Managing Director of Diversi-T.

    Oakley-Smith was facilitating transformative conversations on racism organised by Diakonia Council of Churches on 29 February and 1 March.

    She said, “There are some myths that white South Africans particularly enjoy which continue to be problematic. The first one is that of Ubuntu. Ubuntu in its pure form as it was initially conceived by African people is part and parcel of the way people live in communities, caring for each other. But we have assumed it to be part of the way people are in South Africa; that we care for one another and a person is a person through other people, yet we remain in our segregated groups.”

    The other concept that prevents South Africans from combating racism, she said, is the belief that we are a rainbow nation.

    “The concept of the rainbow nation was put forward as a project. When Archbishop Desmond Tutu first spoke about it, it was an aspiration and somehow we were so happy to take it on board and it made us too comfortable. We have to disabuse ourselves of the idea that we are a rainbow nation, but maybe holding it out as something we would like to work towards. Confronting racism is a step towards building a rainbow nation, if that is truly what we would like to be,” Oakley-Smith said.

    She also noted that it is impossible to divorce racism from the environment characterised by mass poverty in which South Africans live.

    “There is something terribly violent about poverty, about having nothing. We just cannot play with the ideas around racism without how they are embedded in the whole issue of inequality and poverty. Inequality has its roots in apartheid. We still have this huge legacy of inequality and poverty and it is not possible to address this racism without being conscious of this background,” she said.

    Oakley-Smith also spoke about the importance of exposure of different races to each other, noting that there is limited interaction between people of different races in the country.

    Delegates agreed that the issue of racism in South Africa should not continue to be swept under the carpet, but should be spoken about and dealt with.

  • Good Friday Service – Commemorative Plaque at old prison wall

    Good Friday Service – Commemorative Plaque at old prison wall

    A plaque commemorating the first Diakonia Good Friday service was unveiled at the remaining wall of the former Durban Central Prison, on 1 April.

    The unveiling coincided with the 30th Anniversary of the annual ecumenical early morning service.

    It was on 5 April 1985 when the first ecumenical Good Friday service procession wound its way in silence at dawn through the streets of Durban from the Central Methodist Church to the Durban Central Prison, to pray for sixteen treason trialists incarcerated there, among them Frank Chikane, Albertina Sisulu, Sam Kikine and Archie Gumede, and other political prisoners in jails throughout the country.

    Outside the walls of the prison, the worshippers said prayers and sang hymns as the prisoners listened from inside.

    Since then Diakonia Council of Churches has held annual Good Friday services and each year highlighting one particular aspect of national suffering and injustice.

    Speaking during the unveiling ceremony, Bishop Mike Vorster of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa chronicled the history of the service noting that South Africa still faces similar challenges that continue to ‘crucify’ people even today.

    “We are still facing many challenges today and these can be summed up in one word, abuse. We suffer abuse by financial institutions. If we look at them today, we see that they fall horribly short of the three principles of honesty, integrity and fair dealing.

    “People are exploited through debt and through other means by these institutions. Each year we see how the captains of industry receive huge bonuses and those at the other end of the scale have to fight with their lives in order to get a mere twelve percent increase. The people who are faced with such a reality are in fact crucified today because of this economic injustice,” Bishop Vorster said.

    He said the other worrying forms of abuse are that of women and children. “It is disheartening to read about the statistics of women who are killed by their partners. The abuse of children is absolutely disturbing. 2014 was the worst year on record in this country on the abuse of children. How can a society murder its own children? How can a society rape babies? How can a society allow that to happen?” he asked.

    Bishop Vorster spoke strongly about the need for healing in South Africa adding that we are an extremely traumatised society. “The process that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission started was only setting the agenda for us to continue the conversation. We need to revive that conversation so that we can create spaces where people can talk about their hurts. Most of us are walking around with these tremendous traumatic experiences which are not dealt with,” he said.

    He ended by affirming the service as the church’s way of saying another world is possible: “The ecumenical Good Friday service is the visible expression of the church to Durban each and every year that it is still prophetic and is still consistent with its message that we want justice for all, not just for some.”

  • DIAKONIA AWARD FOR BISHOP VORSTER

    DIAKONIA AWARD FOR BISHOP VORSTER

    Methodist Bishop of the Natal Coastal District, Mike Vorster, has been conferred with the Diakonia Human Rights Award for being a true servant of God and champion of the poor and marginalised who has worked tirelessly to bring God’s love and compassion to the “least of these”.

    Bishop Vorster, who was recently honoured as a Living Legend by the eThekwini Municipality, was presented with the Award during the Annual Diakonia Lecture on 29 September.

    Bishop Vorster was described as an ardent advocate of social justice and a regular face at a variety of events related to those in need, most notably during the recent outbreak of xenophobic violence.

    “The recent outbreak of foreigner violence in and around Durban has seen him engage in not just promoting relief work, but also seeking a more long term solution. For a number of weeks he was the only church leader going into the camps on a regular basis and reporting to the rest of us on the latest developments. By so doing, he opened our eyes to their plight and championed their cause. To date, Bishop Mike continues to be involved in initiatives that seek long term peaceful coexistence,” the Diakonia Council noted in the citation.

    The Council also described him as an outstanding leader who demonstrates the true heart of a servant.

    “His public witness is borne out of an inner drive to see the justice of the reign of God on earth. He is willing to engage with people who are experiencing difficulties and injustice in order to find out firsthand what the real issues are, and to ensure that it is those issues that are addressed and not the assumptions of the more fortunate among us.

    “His commitment is always to ensure that the least, the lost and the last within our context are no longer disadvantaged because of our blindness or the weight of the systems that we have developed in order to shape our world. His vision is of a world that Jesus imagined for us,” the Council noted.

    Bishop Vorster has also spoken out against the numerous injustices that plague the country: “He has been able to speak into environmental issues, economic disparity, and the continued racism that lurks below the surface within our context. Many a time, he has denounced global capitalism for the mess that it has led poorer economies into. He has also highlighted the need for healing in our hurting society,” the Council said.

    The purpose of the Diakonia Human Rights Award is to promote a culture of human rights and to mobilise churches and communities to be actively involved in social justice issues.

  • CREATING A SOCIALLY COHESIVE SOCIETY

    CREATING A SOCIALLY COHESIVE SOCIETY

    Social cohesion comes through narrowing the distance between black and white, closing the gap between rich and poor, and giving hope to the hopeless.

    This is according to Yaa Ashantewaa Archer-Ngidi, Founder and Director of the Institute of Afrikology.

    Archer-Ngidi was delivering the annual Diakonia Lecture under the theme Creating a socially cohesive society, on 29 September.

    “I believe that South Africa and Africa must agree that the gap between rich and poor is unfair. Inequality is the basis of wars and suicide bombs across the globe. It is responsible for the continued marginalisation of the new members by the old members, the castigation of the new arrivals by old arrivals. It is unjust. It is unsustainable. It must end,” Archer-Ngidi said.

    She spoke about the importance of the empowerment of women in achieving social cohesion.

    “It comes through empowering women to rise to their highest. Empowering women is the surest means to peace and the upliftment of a nation. Socially cohesive countries provide economic opportunity for all and attract the best minds to run its institutions. If we can secure the majority in their homes, provide jobs and business opportunities to the majority and educate the masses, then most of our problems will be solved. Socially cohesive nations are happy nations and have diminishing levels of crime.”

    Africans have always migrated and seeking to control their movement will not succeed, she said.

    “Africans, on the continent and the Diaspora, must be allowed into every African country, of course following all legal routes. For the African Diaspora, there must be a right of return. Those that were stolen from Africa and sent to the Americas and Caribbean as slaves must be allowed to return home. It is a no-brainer. Barring or seeking to control African movement in Africa is unworkable in the face of economic integration led by the people themselves and only delayed by politics, power and patronage.

    “South Africa’s internal cohesion is important, but it is unsustainable unless it is linked to Africa’s destiny. There must be regional economic cohesion, political alignment and free movement of Africans across borders,” she said.

    Archer-Ngidi also spoke against xenophobia adding that disputes of whatever nature can be resolved through transparent dialogue.

    “In truth xenophobia in South Africa is fuelled by ignorance as it is by sinister agendas. Xenophobia today sees minorities as enemy, the newly arrived, foreigners and those who line our streets with their aggressive commercial enterprises.

    “Black people were so dehumanised by apartheid that they continue to eliminate each other at the slightest provocation today. What mindset says a business dispute over taxi routes is never resolved until blood flows through the streets?” she asked.

  • “RELIGION NOT OPIUM OF THE PEOPLE” – VERRYN

    “RELIGION NOT OPIUM OF THE PEOPLE” – VERRYN

    Former Methodist Bishop of Johannesburg and veteran human rights activist, Revd Dr Paul Verryn has urged the church not to make Karl Marx’s dictum that religion is the opium of the people, come true.

    Dr Verryn was addressing the Diakonia Annual Meeting under the theme “Churches and church groups as social justice hubs and centres of hope.”

    “What irritates me about Karl Marx is that what he said about religion is by and large true. Nowhere in our sermons do we speak of justice as we really confront it in this country. We speak about social justice over and over again without knowing anything about it. People walk out of the service feeling pretty happy about injustice. I want to plead with you not to enable the Marxist dictum to be true,” he said.

    Dr Verryn, who is spearheading efforts to start hearings throughout the country for people to tell their stories of trauma and pain, said every community should become a community of hope and healing.

    He said, “We should create in every gathering a place where issues of justice become part of the breathing mechanism of the church. If we do not bring these issues onto the centre stage, I think we are defying the gospel and denying ourselves of credibility.

    “The reason we engage in issues of social justice is because we know for a fact that as we begin to liberate the potential of the most irrelevant people, we begin to unlock the potential of our full humanity. We need to start to break down the prison of memory that destroys people’s proper functioning.”

    Dr Verryn said the most critical issue South Africa faces at the moment is the disparity between the haves and have-nots, adding that we should begin to realise how critical our responsibility is as religious people.

    He ended by reminding delegates that the journey of social justice requires concerted efforts of all people of faith.

    “The journey with the dispossessed will demand of us every fibre of our intellect and how we begin to start addressing it so that the next transition we have got to make in this nation – if we are not going to have a bloody revolution – is going to demand of those of us who have brains in the faith based-community, to engage comprehensively with everything that we have got. Right in the nerve system of the reason for being as people of faith is this issue that will challenge every dimension of our intellect.

    “This work cannot be left to theologians alone. It is going to mean that we have to connect with people from all professions, because the injustices in this nation filter into all sorts of places,” Dr Verryn concluded.