Shaft 11, Stilfontein - Reflections and Condolences - Thabo Makgoba

On his Truth to Power TV interview on the eNCA channel in December, Prof “JJ” Onkgopotse Tabane, asked me: “Father, what is the church doing about the mine workers trapped in the Stilfontein (Shaft 11) mine?” I responded that we are praying; we regret the attitude and comments of government leaders who wanted to “smoke them out”; and I added, “Some SACC [SA Council of Churches] leaders have paid a visit to the site.” *

Today, I am sad as I watch on TV and see the pathology services vans parked near the gaping hole of Shaft 11 and evidence of bodies recovered from up to one or two kilometres underground. (Non-South African readers can see the background to this tragedy here:

https://apnews.com/article/miners-mine-south-africa-dead-80a1a4809371269b592bf3e2695540ba)

Stilfontein Mine, to the west of Johannesburg, where my dad eked out his earnings from miners for our family's livelihood, is now a place where miners lost their lives, not due to the health and safety challenges as a result of poor mining practices, but due to workers having starved to death. Yet again, this tragedy leaves another deep wound in the heart of our nation. It opens our Marikana pain, the pain we suffered from the police killings at that platinum mine in North West Province.

Will the suffering ever end for people on the margins of our society? Yes, we are grateful for the lives of those saved in a difficult rescue operation, and grateful to the mining companies represented on the Minerals Council for helping pay for the rescue operations. But this is a moment of profound grief and shock, and also a moment to reflect on the systemic injustices, the economic desperation, and the human dignity often overlooked in our society.

++Thabo Makgoba

January 15, 2025

* See the SACC's statement here: https://anglicanchurchsa.org/sacc-statement-on-stilfontein-mine-tragedy/

Statement by Archbishop Thabo Makgoba on the Panel of Inquiry into Smyth abuse case

On November 22nd, 2024 I appointed a high-level inquiry into the implications for the Anglican Church of Southern Africa of a Church of England review of serial violent abuse by Mr John Smyth in the UK and Zimbabwe in the 1980s and 1990s. I appointed former Supreme Court of Appeal judge Ian Farlam, former UCT vice-chancellor Dr Mamphela Ramphele and Advocate Jeremy Gauntlett SC KC to conduct the inquiry.

On the evening of Thursday January 16th, 2025 I received a letter concerning a quite separate allegation of abuse, in which the complainant said that if Advocate Gauntlett did not step down from the panel by January 31st, he (the complainant) would make the allegation public. Without further communication, the complainant later that evening published details of his allegations on social media. No complaint is known to have been made to Safe Church (ACSA’s specialist safeguarding body) or to the church itself on the matter over the past 40 years.

On the morning of Friday January 17th, Advocate Gauntlett proposed that in the circumstances created by the letter he step down from the panel, conveying a concern that the work of the Smyth inquiry not be in any way delayed or obstructed by the issue. I accepted his offer, subject to consultation with other members of the panel. As someone whose handling of the Smyth matter is being investigated by the panel, I have kept a distance from its work but felt that in the circumstances I needed to take this step.

I held those consultations at Bishopscourt in Cape Town today, and have accepted Advocate Gauntlett's offer on the well-recognised principle in the law that even the appearance of a conflict of interest can be enough to trigger a recusal from a matter. Justice Farlam and Dr Ramphele have accepted Advocate Gauntlett's decision with regret, and have agreed that they will continue the Panel’s inquiry to completion. It is expected that this will be accomplished shortly.

I await the panel's judgment on the effectiveness of our efforts to eliminate abuse within the church, and my heart goes out to victims and survivors of Smyth. My heart breaks when I recall the account in the Church of England's Makin report of the violence and pain that they went or are still going through.