Church Gives Award to “Prophetic” Mamphela Ramphele

The Anglican Church of Southern Africa has given its highest award for lay members of the church to business leader, academic and social activist Dr Mamphela Ramphele, hailing her as “one of South Africa’s greatest prophetic voices.”

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town admitted Dr Ramphele to the order of Simon of Cyrene at a meeting of the church’s Provincial Synod in Benoni today.

In its citation for the award, the church said that after acting “with fierce determination to overcome the injustices of the apartheid regime at a time when it was at its most brutal,” Dr Ramphele still “continues in her campaign for justice and for the rights of women, the poor and marginalised.”

Citing Dr Ramphele’s role in convening the Dinokeng Scenarios, the church said her work was based on “an idealism and hope coming from her shrewd and independent analytical mind, making her one of South Africa’s greatest prophetic voices.”

Dr Ramphele is a former vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town and a former director of the World Bank.