Sermon at Funeral of Zwelakhe Sisulu - The Truth Will Set Us Free

This sermon was preached at the funeral of Zwelakhe Sisulu on 13 October 2012.

1 Pet 1:3-9; Matthew 5:3-10

May I speak in the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, dear President Zuma and Deputy-President Motlanthe, dear Sisulu family, clergy and all distinguished people, I greet you all in the precious name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Saviour, our Redeemer. Let me also thanks program directors Comrade Duarte and Mr Makhura. In his summation Mr Makhura reminded us of the refrain from Zwelakhe’s poem, ‘Lest we forget’. Comrade Duarte mentioned the cost of apartheid. In the light of these, I want to adjust the theme of my sermon: I want to speak about ‘Lest we forget’ the human face to the cost of apartheid in our times, and ‘Lest we forget’ that the truth will set us free.

We have just sung Zwelakhe’s favourite hymn: ‘This is my story’. And it is in the story of Jesus Christ that we find a place for our own story. Within the story of his birth, his life and ministry and teaching, his death on the cross, his resurrection and his ascension to heaven where he now prays for us – in this story of his, we find a place to make sense of our own story, our lives and our deaths.

As St Peter wrote in his first letter, ‘By God’s great mercy, he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.’ It is kept in heaven for us, it is kept in heaven for Zwelakhe. Zwelakhe’s story is now one with the story of Jesus Christ.

And so today we celebrate the life of Zwelakhe Sisulu, we mourn his death, we commend him to the everlasting love of God, and we share our own grief. As we do this, we also place ourselves within the story of Jesus Christ, so that we too may know that death has been defeated, and find the comfort that he offers to all who seek his solace in their mourning. Finding our story and Zwelakhe’s story in God’s story gives us confidence, and allows us to be honest in our joys and in our sadnesses, as we remember this special man, this child of God, and give thanks for him, even as we grieve his passing.

As the tributes have reminded us, Zwelakhe packed a great deal into his 61 years. When I think of him – as I think also of Tata Walter and Mamma Albertina Sisulu, and so many of your family – other words from our first reading, strike a loud chord. St Peter writes of us suffering various trials, in which we dare to rejoice, because, he says, the genuineness of our faith is being tested, and is being found, through this fiery testing, to be more precious, more valuable, than gold.

Zwelakhe’s faith, Zwelakhe’s life, were ‘the real deal’ – they were certainly tested, but, by God’s grace, the quality of this man kept shining through. I am reminded of that saying that our characters are like tea-bags: we only discover their strength in hot water. Well, in one way or another, hot water – or at least, the heated politics of the last half century and more – shaped Zwelakhe’s life as they have shaped so many lives. And he was found to be strong in rising to the challenges, even when it came at personal cost.

‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled’ said Jesus. Righteousness is a word we don’t hear very often outside of church – but it is a word we could do with more of, especially in public life. Righteousness (very different from self-righteousness) is about reflecting the character of God, of Jesus – reflecting Jesus’ story in our story. It is about promoting God’s best, in all circumstances. It is about all that is upright, virtuous, just and good, excellent and true.

Zwelakhe showed us that to live in pursuit of excellence, justice, goodness, truth, certainly does bring a deep and lasting fulfilment and satisfaction – those who hunger for righteousness will be filled. And though he was in many ways larger than life – as I well remember from the time when he was running the New Nation out of rooms in our church complex – he was also content to be active behind the scenes. He let his life speak for itself – just as, as a journalist, he let the words speak for themselves, as he sought to make the truth known.

Jesus said that the truth will set us free (John 8:32). Today I want to emphasise, ‘Lest we forget – it is the truth that sets us free.’ Zwelakhe fought for the truth, as a means of fighting for freedom and for justice – so that our whole country could be set free. He inspired a generation of journalists, both in the written press; and across the entire media, as he took the helm of SABC. He demonstrated the value, the importance, the absolutely vital role, of an independent, intelligent, engaged media in the development and sustaining of healthy democracy through open, informed, debate.

My prayer is that we will never forget this.

Truth and transparency are the most effective tools we have for building the society, the nation, for which so many gave so much, even their own lives. Open and honest debate is our most powerful weapon, in combatting all that threatens to undermine the vision of our Constitution. It is indispensable for creating a united nation, in which we can find healing for the divisions of the past; and pursue a just and equitable society, based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights: a society which delivers a decent quality of life for all citizens and frees the potential of each person.

Truth will help us all pursue this. Because truth is the corner-stone of trust. And without trust, the different sectors of society cannot work well together – as the National Development Plan rightly tells us we must work together – in order to achieve the vision of the Freedom Charter, and of the Constitution.

For all of us need to stand together and play our part. Politicians, government, have their spheres of responsibility and action. Others of us have ours – Zwelakhe showed us something of the best contribution that the media can make. Business, academia, civil society, the church – all of us have our places, our responsibilities, our roles. And while none of us can do government’s job for them – we must all be ready to ‘stand in the gap’ and ensure that where politics and government fail, our people and our nation are not failed.

Truth helps show us what is needed; and helps us highlight that need, to ensure it is not forgotten, overlooked, ignored. And truth will help us all find the best way forward.

Truth, about how difficult this task of nation-building is, and about what can realistically be achieved – rather than inflated promises designed merely to win votes – will help our politicians to be the people we need them to be, and to do the job our Constitution asks of them.

Truth about the nature of problems we face, will help us find realistic, workable, solutions, that are rooted in the reality before us.

Truth around financial and commercial dealings – everything from tender processes to wage settlements – are the necessary first step to defeating the scourge of growing corruption – and also to overcoming the corrosive effect that suspicion increasingly has, even where due process is followed.

The humorous playwright, Noel Coward said ‘It is discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty, how few by deceit.’ We might laugh, but this is not the sort of society for which Zwelakhe strove. It must not become a valid description of the new South Africa.

Truth in the financial sector is necessary for overcoming international structural distortions, that fuel global instability in the economic sector that overflows into social unrest – for example over food stability.

Truth about our economic practices is also the foundation stone to reversing increasing inequalities between rich and poor, and in ensuring that the wealth of this country is made to serve those who are in greatest need.

US President, Franklin D Roosevelt, in his second inaugural address, said ‘The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.’ Mr President, sir, if you should, post-Mangaung, find yourself making your own second inaugural address, we trust that you too will make the alleviation of poverty your first priority, in your words and actions.

Truth is what brings the cries of the hungry, the lament of the poor, the grieving of the bereaved, the voice of the oppressed, to the ears of those who have: who have power and influence and material well-being, and the capacity to make a difference that benefits those who are without.

Truth is what will touch our hearts, change our minds, and shape our actions – so that we might become channels of blessing to those who are in greatest need.

Truth is the oil in the wheels of genuine democracy, which allows the voice of every citizen to be heard, and treated with dignity and respect.

Truthfulness in debate is what will rebuild relationships across the chasms that have opened up around Marikana, and the wider mining sector. We pray for Judge Ian Farlam and the Commission of Inquiry, that they may deal in the truth that sets people free – free from the ignorance about what happened, what went wrong, how we can do better in our employment practices, in our policing, in our dealings with disputes.

Truthfulness, and the trust it can bring, are also needed for spanning the gulfs between service providers and those who need – and who have a right to – these services.

Truth is the bridge across which we will have to walk if we are to meet with one another again, and find common solutions to the ills of our nation.

Truth is also the basis of education – of bringing understanding at every level of society. Above all else, our children and young people need to learn. We need to overcome the shocking standards of education which far too many receive (and too often in wholly inadequate facilities); and which leave them with so little hope of finding stable employment, with a decent wage, so they can support a family with dignity.

And though truth puts the spotlight on those areas where we are failing – truth is to be welcomed, because truth truly does set us free. We must never fear truth – even if it may be painful to hear at first. Because truth will take us forward to a better life.

Truth lights the banner of hope – because truth is what tells us the good news stories, of what is being achieved, by so many people, even with such few resources.

Truth tells us that we can make it: with hard work, with effort, with commitment, with perseverance, with cooperation and collaboration.

Truth can bring a smile to our faces, and joy to our hearts, when we hear of triumphs against the odds; of generosity of spirit; of communities uplifted; of courageous men and women, young people and old, who have stood up for what is right and seen good triumph.

Truth tells us that we need not despair – that we are not condemned to lives of uselessness in a failing society.

Truth is the signpost to a better future.

This is the truth for which Zwelakhe stood, the truth for which he strove. And though it breaks our hearts that he has died, facing the hard truth of his passing will help us deal with our sadness and sorrowing.

‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted’ said Jesus. If we dare to face our grief with honesty, and bring it before God, opening our hearts to him, then he will reach out to us with his tender, loving touch. Zodwa – our hearts go out to you, your children, to all the family, and to everyone who loved Zwelakhe. We mourn with you, we grieve with you. And we pray with you also, that God’s eternal arms of love will surround you with their compassion, so that you might know his full consolation, even as you are not afraid to weep and mourn. May you find his blessing, his comfort, in your sorrow and sadness.

God the Father watched his own son die on the cross – he knows what it is to mourn. Jesus himself wept at the death of his friend Lazarus – and then himself experienced dying, in pain and suffering. He has gone before us through those gates that lie at the end of the valley of the shadow – and he holds his hand out to us all, in our mortality, assuring us that we need not be afraid.

We know that Zwelakhe is now safe, in the eternal love of God. He has run the race, he has finished his course. I am sure that he will hear the words ‘well done, good and faithful servant.’ Rest eternal grant to him, O Lord – and let light perpetual shine upon him. May he rest in peace – and rise in glory. Amen

Protection of State Information Bill needs Public Interest Provisions

The following open letter to President Jacob Zuma was issued on 27 November 2011. It calls for him to return the Protection of State Information Bill to Cabinet, for inclusion of an adequate public interest provision.

Dear Mr President,

I write to you as one who grew up under a system that oppressed and censored the media – a system that invoked fear in anyone who dared to read, or embrace, different views to those of the government of the day. The passage of the Protection of State Information Bill has stirred up in me vivid memories of my time as a student in the 1980s at Wits, and the traumatising experience of police ransacking our residence as they looked for classified material. The undercurrent of fear running through our lives that this created is so totally in contradiction to the open atmosphere of constructively critical readings of our life and times which we so much need in South Africa today.

Of course, every country has state secrets, and needs to classify them as such and protect them. I fully understand this. That South Africa needs to replace the old law from apartheid times, I also fully agree. Yet I also hear the cry that the current bill passed this week lacks the one necessary thing, an adequate public interest clause that relates to the criminality of those who ‘transgress’ on these grounds. I have heard some lawyers, with politicians, argue that this is not necessary, and that the law will not be used to penalise those who bring wrong-doing to light. But across the journalistic world, among members of civil society and trade unions, and in community-based and faith-based organisations, there are wide-spread concerns at both the severe sentences, and the wide-ranging provisions for classification of material by any organ of state. These have the potential to create an atmosphere similar to repressive apartheid censorship, and thereby gag the truth; hide corruption; conceal maladministration, incompetence and unjust practices; and stunt our open society at every level from the national and international to the most local.

Therefore I respectfully appeal to you, sir, to consider sending the bill back to cabinet before signing it into law. We know that, if signed as it stands, it will be challenged in the Constitutional Court. Surely South Africa needs the time and energy this will consume, to be directed to the far more urgent needs of social cohesion and rebuilding the ruins left by apartheid. These are so evident in most of our townships, for example in their health, education and housing infrastructure, let alone across rural South Africa.

As a fellow South African and Christian, I ask you not to sign this bill. Listen again to the cries of your people.

Yours in the service of Christ

+Thabo Cape Town

Issued by the Office of the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town. Inquiries: Ms Wendy Tokata on 021-763-1320 (office hours)

Visit to Diocese of Natal - Interview in The Witness

The following interview appeared in The Witness on 21 November 2011, and can also be found at http://www.witness.co.za/index.php?showcontent&global%5B_id%5D=72190.

THABO Makgoba, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town and Metropolitan of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA), has challenged the government on issues of service delivery and corruption, and is a “proud” member of the Press Freedom Commission. In the province recently, he spoke to The Witness about a range of hot topics in the church and society. It was clear that Makgoba (51) is cast from the same mould as some of his illustrious predecessors like “the scourge of apartheid”, Joost de Blank and Geoffrey Clayton (who refused to obey the Native Laws Amendment Act), and Desmond Tutu.

Julius Malema

“I agree with Julius Malema when he raises questions about the need for economic emancipation. I agree with him when he raises questions about the number of unemployed youth who voted the ANC into power but whose votes have manifestly not translated into creating jobs, better education, or access to health care. I agree with him, but I don’t agree with him on how he thinks this should be achieved. I disagree with the suggestion of nationalisation without putting the specifics on the table. Will nationalisation increase access to health care, improve the national education standards, address the housing backlog and sanitation and improve the living standards of unemployed youth? Without specifics, I cannot agree with him.”

The Church and politics

“The understanding persists that the church should not be involved in politics. I have a different understanding of religion and what God in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit calls us to do and be. We cannot privatise faith — there is a eucharistic imperative that sends us into the world to love and serve. This entails asking why some people are more privileged than others, why some have too much food while others go hungry? And asking why and which structures and systems support that? Poverty and hunger are not because some people are more blessed or work harder than others. There are lazy rich people and poor people.

“As soon as you ask questions people call it ‘politics’. But in the Bible Jesus Christ learnt and cited the Torah and studied with the synagogue leaders — that is education. We need to raise these things, we cannot leave them to the party political heads.”

Apartheid reparations

“This is one of the things that Julius Malema is articulating, but in a clumsy way. The TRC, Desmond Tutu and other commissioners (who were mostly people of faith), could have done better in terms of reparations. They produced a document but then left it to politicians to put into action, which either did not happen or happened too slowly. Now it is coming back to bite us. The TRC did not address the economic and apartheid structures and systems that sustain and maintain poverty and economic inequality, so now we need to find a vehicle to do that.

“Desmond Tutu’s idea of a wealth tax is a way of recognising that politicians have not done what should have been done.

“The church could have done far better in addressing this issue, seeing that it was the church — specifically, the Dutch Reformed Church — that gave the moral, spiritual and theological basis to apartheid.”

The Press Freedom Commission and corruption

“I am proud to be part of the Press Freedom Commission under the chairmanship of Justice Pius Langa, to review best practice and regulation within the print media. An effective free press, and the ability of all to speak truth to power, is indispensable to successful constitutional democracy. The Secrecy Bill and Media Tribunal have the potential to undermine press freedom. If the citizenry does not engage with these they could undermine the core of our democratic ability to make constitutional values a reality.

“[The commission] will contribute to making this country’s democracy work, encouraging people to speak out and makes those we have elected serve the citizens and transform corruption. There is too much corruption and we want to make South Africans intolerant of it.

“To a large extent we are still a moral and Christian country. We must use that, not to proselytise, but to make this country shine.”

Transformation in the church

“We have talked the talk but not walked the walk in this area. The legacy of apartheid needs to be transformed, for example, priests live in houses of very different standards. Even Bishopscourt in Cape Town where the archbishop lives is a legacy of colonial times that predates apartheid. What was — and what is — the relationship between the church and the structures of power? How does it benefit some and not others? Those are the kinds of questions we need to ask if we are to be transformed.

“It can also mean changing those areas of church life that were socially engineered by apartheid, like barring people from worshipping across colour lines. It means looking at the Biblical apartheid of having only men as bishops. The Anglican Church in southern Africa has been going since about 1860 but we have only been ordaining women for about 20 years. There are 30 bishops in this province and not one is a woman. We need to start to walk our talk.”

Homosexuality

“The issue of transformation in the church touches on this issue too. There are those who feel called by God to be in a same-sex union, and those who believe it is against the Bible and God’s principles to be in that state. We need to allow God through the Holy Spirit to continue working in us and we need to keep talking until God prevails, and not us. There are no easy solutions. We must remember that it took many years before the book of Revelations was included in the canon of scripture. Look at the Nicene Creed (325): people argued and talked and died for many years before that was settled.

“I have always held that homosexuality should not be a church-dividing issue, but we need to take seriously people who take an either-or position. We need to wrestle together to understand scripture and our vocation to the world.”

Climate change and the environment

“These are also issues of social and economic justice and human rights, and we need to raise them. If you look at the mine dumps in Gauteng and the West Rand, you see a pattern that mirrors racial and political divides in geography. If you look at economic development you see big business and politicians in cahoots to get their hands on opportunities to benefit only themselves, like oil rights and access to energy. You see the developed world as the worst producers of carbon emissions at the expense of the developing world.

“There is a lot of greenwashing going on ahead of Cop17 in Durban. The government preaches the right message but does not practise it. We are far behind in developing renewable energy sources. Eskom pays huge subsidies to big industry at the expense of the poor, which is scandalous, and the government is planning another coal-burning power station.

“I hope Cop17 will be a chance to highlight these issues and I encourage everyone to make their voice heard. Sign the pledge to care for the environment in the We have Faith — act now for climate justice campaign and attend the interfaith rally at the start of the conference on November 27.”

Who is Thabo Makgoba?

CONSECRATED in 2008 at the age of 48, Makgoba was the youngest archbishop to head ACSA. He grew up in Alexandra township, Johannesburg, and went to school at Orlando High, Soweto, during the politically turbulent eighties. He is a qualified psychologist, holds a PhD in spirituality from the University of Cape Town and is a committed father to Nyakallo (17) and Paballo (12) and husband to Lungi, a former development consultant.

Tiyo Soga's Legacy: A Reflection on Restitution, Freedom of Information and Hate Speech

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba participated in the unveiling of the Memorial Tombstone to Revd Tiyo Soga on 9 September 2011, at Thuthura, Eastern Cape, using the following prayer. Below, the Archbishop offers a longer reflection on the lessons that we can learn for today, from this great South African intellectual and man of faith. Dr Makgoba comments on freedom of speech and the protection of information legislation, on hate speech and racial and sexist language, and on Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s recent remarks about restitution. An edited version of this reflection, “Singing from the Same Hymn Sheet” appeared in the Cape Times, of 16 September 2011 on page 9.

Let us pray: God our Creator, whose Son is the Way, the Truth and the Life, we ask you today to bless all who speak here, and all who listen – praying that, as St James writes in his epistle, we may be doers of the word, and not merely hearers. Make us your apostles of true freedom and democracy, so that we, following in the footsteps of our brother and forefather, Tiyo Soga, may bring true emancipation to those who are held captive by economic slavery.

God of Righteousness and Truth, fulfil in us your promises, by making us people of justice and integrity, who, like Tiyo Soga, not only sing a song of gospel liberation to the poor and downtrodden, but work to share our wealth.

We pray especially for the rural poor, that they may know the fulfilment of your promise never to leave or forsake your children. When times are hard, pour your Holy Spirit on us, speak your words of comfort and encouragement through us; move our hearts and strengthen our wills to act, so that we may bring the fulfilment of your promises of real hope and new life for all.

We ask this for your tender mercies’ sake. Amen.

Reflections on the life of Revd Tiyo Soga, and his legacy to us today

Participating in the unveiling of the Memorial Tombstone for Tiyo Soga has prompted me to reflect further on this remarkable African intellectual, and his legacy for our own times. What would this devout man, who aimed to take the best of international scholarship and give it expression in his own culture, say to South Africa today? What would the composer of the famous hymn, sung to open the first meeting of the South African Native National Congress in 1912, ‘Lizalis’ idinga lakho’, ‘Fulfil the Promise’, say about democratisation’s unfinished business of reconciliation and restitution? What lessons should we learn from his commitment to the ‘Lord, God of Truth’ (the words with which that hymn continues) for current debates around freedom of information, hate speech, and racist or sexist language? Tiyo Soga has a lot to teach us.

There is no doubt that Revd Tiyo Soga was an extraordinary individual. He was outstanding in his own generation, and remains outstanding as we reflect on his astonishing life, 140 years after his sadly young death. Others have recalled his achievements in greater detail than I, both in Thuthura at the unveiling of his Memorial Tombstone, and elsewhere. My father-in-law, Professor Cecil Manona, who researched and wrote on Tiyo Soga, gave me extensive material on this remarkable man, and his influence has remained with me.

Last week’s moving ceremony, attended by Tiyo Soga’s family members, together with former President Mbeki, the Provincial Premier, amaXhosa King Mpendulo Zwelonke Sigcawu, other politicians, traditional and religious leaders and figures from the business and wider community, has prompted me to consider what lessons should we learn for our own context, from this man who travelled (what must have seemed to a schoolboy from Chumie) incomparable distances into the unknown, in order to learn from the best the world had to offer, and then to translate it into his own language and culture? What does it mean for us as individuals, and for our nation, to draw on the best of today’s international experience and scholarship and root it in African soil, so that Africa’s children may grow and flourish?

Reflecting on these questions, I found my thoughts focussing on the central question of what it means for us today to ‘Fulfil our Promise, God, Lord of Truth’.

Fulfilling Promise poses us, I shall suggest, four challenges. First is a challenge to our nation, and our leadership, in this era of democracy. What is the promise for which so many struggled and even died, for which the seed was planted in 1912, and which blossomed in 1994? Where is the promised fruit of democracy and freedom?

We can point to global financial difficulties, and make other excuses, but there is no getting away from the truth that economic emancipation has not yet reached us all. Indeed, the divide between rich and poor has grown. And though it is now the case that among the richest 10%, 20%, 30% of South Africans, the majority are black – it remains true that the great, great majority of our population, our black population, remain exceedingly impoverished.

We know there have been great improvements, for example in provisions of water and electricity, but it has been no-where near enough to overcome the poverty trap in which so many are imprisoned, with little hope of escape. NGOs, charities and faith communities do what we can – but we are only scratching at the surface. Government must lead the way forward.

We often talk about the private sector coming to the party – but it is the government who must ensure there is a party, and a good party, to which others can be invited, and can turn up with confidence that all arrangements have been properly made! I am sure there is far greater willingness to come to the party than government realises – if only the rest of us knew for sure that there really is a party, and where it is being held, and how to get there!

Recently Archbishop Tutu got himself into hot water once again for speaking about reconciliation and restitution, and the unfinished business (indeed, the unfulfilled promise) of the TRC. And, as usual, the sorts of reports that followed focussed as much on the outrage as on the heart of the matter. But there is an important issue at stake – and it will not do to leave such unfinished business hanging in the air while continuing to complain at it. This is a recipe for a dangerous festering sore, not a solution.

Here is another party which the Government must organise. Mamphela Ramphele, in a public presentation for the Restitution Organisation earlier this year, said ‘The pain caused by Apartheid has been left to individuals to solve privately without any effective assistance from society.’[1][1] She is right that individuals, acting out of private motivation, cannot be expected to bear the burden of making amends. Nor can companies, one by one, however good their social responsibility programmes. And while we should be more than wary of punitive measures (indeed, the Arch said it could be something ‘quite piffling’[2][2]) and the imposition of inappropriate one-size-does-not-fit-all policies, it nonetheless surely must be the responsibility of Government to provide mechanisms for making amends.

No one else can provide the necessary guaranteed channels for ensuring tangible, sustainable, upliftment to those who continue to be most harmed by the legacies of our unjust past. If only government would provide such sure ways of making a true difference, how many more would be ready, even keen, to take such steps? But is it any wonder there is resistance, when the likelihood is that attempts at reparation will be lost without trace within a budget we are incapable of spending well on our country’s neediest people? And what of South Africa’s wealthy, of all backgrounds, who should also be given encouraging ways to contribute to a more just economy – as some of Europe and North America’s richest have recently been asking to do through higher taxation?

As Trevor Manuel put it so eloquently at the Parliamentary seminar on the Millennium Development Goals last week, service delivery – and our failures in service delivery – are not a question merely of money, but of how Government spends it. It seems that we have enough, more than enough, but we do not use it wisely or well. To put it another way, the budget is not fulfilling its promise – the promise that is well within its grasp, if only we work to make it so. When I look at the promise of the struggle, and at our difficulties today, I wonder if one of our major problems lies in the following: that in the past we taught people to struggle against; but we have not taught people that now we must struggle for, if we are to achieve that promise. Therefore we must learn new ways of struggling, and struggling together:

• struggling through hard work, dedication, commitment, and going the full distance

• struggling through refusing to settle for second best, for corruption, for corner-cutting, for laziness

• struggling through holding one another to the highest standards,

• struggling through being prepared to work for the good of everyone, not just me and my cronies,

• struggling through believing our country truly can be all it promises to be.

Only through such struggling together, can we ensure a re-engineering of past discriminatory attitudes and practices and their persisting legacies.

All this brings me to the second challenge to fulfil our promise. It is the challenge of the youth of today.

For once I am not speaking about offering a challenge to the youth – but rather, about the challenge that the youth are giving to us, today’s leaders. This challenge demands that we recognise that too often we have been selling empty promises to the generation now in their twenties, even thirties – empty, unfulfilled, promises of instant improvements in education and employment, as if all these would come with the single wave of a democratic wand. We promised, but we did not deliver. Perhaps we were too exhausted when democracy came. Perhaps we just assumed that another generation would pick up the baton where we left off, and carry it forward themselves. Perhaps, we reached crucial compromises far too quickly. Perhaps we did not realise that the youth too needed to be ‘conscientised’ into the promise, and the struggle needed to achieve it – in their own time and context, as we were in ours.

For Julius Malema is not wrong when he cries out for the youth of today – when he cries out for justice in education, in employment, in opportunity, in economic emancipation and empowerment. But he is wrong in how he thinks these can be achieved, and in leading others to believe in these unworkable solutions. We need to share the hope, promise and detail of the new struggle with the new generation – for so far, we have failed to do so adequately.

It is far easier to struggle against, than to struggle for. As the demonstrations outside Luthuli House last week showed vividly, it is far easier to break down and destroy than it is to create and build.

But democracy also requires a struggle – making democracy work requires effort and commitment. Democracy was not a destination – rather, it is a new way of life, which comes with the promise of true fruit for all, provided we are prepared to tend the plant so it can grow and flourish. In the same way, Tiyo Soga’s legacy, the promise in which he believed, and which he worked to deliver, is one of creating a new society, and building a new nation – laying the foundations from the best that we can see around us.

It is not enough to criticise what is wrong. True, we need to get our analysis right. But that is drawing the map. It is not even taking the first step into the future that, if only we had eyes to see, still remains so full of promise, so ready to bear lasting, tangible fruit.

Yet we certainly must be free to criticise what is wrong. Tiyo Soga’s hymn continues: Fulfil your Promise, God, Lord of Truth. Though the phrase ‘speaking truth to power’ is more recent, Tiyo Soga certainly lived by it – both criticising the colonial powers, and refusing to be co-opted by Maqoma, telling the Xhosa chief that he served only God – ‘There is another King …’

Surely to honour his legacy means, at the very least, that we must have a public interest defence clause in the Protection of Information legislation. I fully support the efforts spearheaded by the Right to Know Campaign, with their march on Parliament on 17 September, to call for its inclusion, even at this late hour of the legislative process. I am also appalled that Cosatu members should be arrested and deported from Swaziland to prevent them speaking up for democracy and human rights – though I am glad they are not being charged within Swaziland for promoting regime change.

Freedom of speech is entrenched in our Constitution – and rightly so, because it is a part of the necessary bed-rock of democratic life. But this does not mean we can and should say anything, anywhere, merely on the grounds that we claim it is ‘truth’. Nor should restraint merely consist in establishing the maximum we can get away with when arguing before the courts. No, freedom of speech touches on the very essence of what it is to be human, and to be committed to the wellbeing of other human beings. This is at the core of religious belief – though it is not exclusively the perspective of the religious, as illustrated by the ancient concept of the Greek philosophers of ‘the common good’. Our best speaking is what builds up our communities, our society, our nation.

Hate speech is not merely a legal category. It is, as I have said often before (when people have been called ‘snakes’ and ‘dogs’ and worse), any utterance that diminishes and degrades other human beings, other children of God. More than this, it diminishes and degrades not only its target, but also the speaker – for it demonstrates a general failure to understand and respect people at large. The same is true of those who resort to racial epithets, or demeaning sexual slurs, as are also in the news. Pretending to humour is no excuse. Whether such words break the law may be open to debate. What is beyond question is that it all undermines our capacity to ‘fulfil the promise’ of democracy, through building the sort of individual character and mature society which will help create the opportunity for every citizen to flourish. Hate speech, racist talk, sexist language only oppresses and imprisons. We must denounce it all, and instead speak the ‘truth’ of Tiyo Soga – the truth that underpins true democracy, that emancipates and liberates; the truth of the one King whom Tiyo Soga followed, Jesus, who told the world ‘the truth shall set you free’.

So now comes my third challenge of what it means to fulfil our promise. It is a challenge to Tiyo Soga’s direct heirs – South Africa’s religious leaders. One definition of a preacher in the pulpit is someone who stands ‘six feet above contradiction’! It is easy enough for us to declaim our sermons! But that is not enough. In his new Testament Letter, St James says we should ‘be doers of the word and not merely hearers who deceive themselves’ (Jas 1:22). In the same way, we who preach should be doers of the word and not merely speakers, deceiving ourselves and others.

That said, it is not our role to do government’s job for them; nor to be social workers; nor environmental activists; nor political commentators; nor economic gurus. These are all areas with which we must engage – but we must do so, bearing the promised fruit of our own unique place within society. We have a special responsibility to provide the moral compass, a clear vision of justice, of freedom, of honesty, of truth. We must demonstrate what it means to be truly human – created, as many of us say, in the image of God, and so bearing intrinsic dignity, and worthy of respect, from the smallest child and the roughest old bergie, to Archbishops and Presidents. None is more valuable in the eyes of God.

We must walk the walk and talk the talk – modelling servant leadership exercised for the well-being of those entrusted to us; taking special care of the suffering and needy; standing in solidarity with the marginalised and excluded; helping the voiceless find their voice; being a full part of democracies processes of debate and mutual accountability. We must show what true stewardship is about – another essential aspect of contemporary leadership in a world of finite resources, where we increasingly risk destroying our home, the only home there is for ourselves, our children and our children’s children, for the sake of short term gains enjoyed by the few. We must provide moral, ethical, resources; and help others understand how to apply them in every walk of life.

And finally, we must point to the fourth challenge that arises from Tiyo Soga’s hymn title ‘Fulfil your promise’. For these words are a prayer – that God himself will fulfil his promises to us. They are a prayer to which we can all say ‘Amen’ with confidence. For the vision that the Bible offers – the very Bible that says more about poverty and economics than it does about prayer – is that though God condemns those who exploit, or even merely ignore, the poor; far more than that, he delights to bring blessing wherever people pursue justice and mercy.

The prophet Amos says ‘Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.’ He says ‘Seek the Lord, and live; seek good and not evil, and the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you’ (Amos 5:24; 6, 14). This is the promise that is sure and certain – that when we do what God calls us to do; when we seek justice and mercy, when we seek righteousness and truth, when we seek the economic emancipation of the poor, affordable health-care for all the sick, decent education for every South African child, efficient service delivery, effective rural development, tangible mechanisms for appropriate reparations … – when we seek the true flourishing of every individual, every community, all of society – then we can be assured that God will indeed be with us.

When our hearts, our minds, our commitments, are in the right place, God will help us know what is the right thing to do. God will help us have the insight to know how to take it forward. God will help us have the will-power to see it through. When we seek to do what is right, what is good – then God will indeed help us fulfil our promise. This is his promise, and he guarantees to fulfil it.

Therefore, let me end with words of prayer, from the final verse of Tiyo Soga’s hymn, ‘Fulfil your promise’: ‘O Lord, bless the teachings of our land; Please revive us, that we may restore goodness.’

May it indeed be so. Amen.

Note for Editors: Tiyo Soga was the first ordained African Presbyterian minister in South Africa, an African intellectual who translated parts of the Bible, Pilgrim’s Progress and other works, into Xhosa, and wrote a great number of hymns, many of which are still sung today.

Born in 1829, at Mgwali, near King William’s Town, he attended the Lovedale Missionary Institute, and when the principal returned to Scotland during the War of the Axe in 1846, Soga went with him, and continued his studies. He returned to South Africa after being baptised, but later went back to Scotland to study theology further. In 1856 Soga became the first black South African to be ordained in the Presbyterian Church. He married a Scottish woman, Janet Burnside, with whom he subsequently had seven children, several of whom had significant careers in South Africa and Scotland. In 1857 they returned to South Africa, where Soga worked as a catechist, evangelist, hymn-writer and interpreter. He died at Thuthura in 1871, of a persistent throat infection, exacerbated by overwork.

Archbishop joins new Press Freedom Commission

At the nomination of the South African Council of Churches, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba has agreed to serve as a Commissioner on the Press Freedom Commission launched today at the initiative of Print Media South Africa (PMSA) and South African National Editors Forum (SANEF). The PFC will be chaired by Justice Pius Langa, and, over the next 6 to 8 months is tasked with reviewing various forms of regulation and best practice, in relation to the print media. Dr Makgoba will serve as representative of the faith communities.

Further details of the Commission can be found at http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2011/07/07/press-freedom-commission-launched

Dr Makgoba has previously supported the Right to Know Campaign in its opposition to the Protection of Information Bill. Below is an article by him published in the Cape Times on 31 August 2010 (slightly amended).

‘The Truth will Set Us Free’

The Protection of Information Bill now before Parliament and the ANC’s proposed Media Appeals Tribunal threaten to undermine the family of rights – ranging from freedom of expression, to political rights, to freedom of religion – to which we as South Africans subscribed when our elected representatives adopted our Constitution in 1996.

The truth, so the Gospel assures Christians, will set us free. Yet what is notable about the Protection of Information Bill as it currently stands is that it seeks to punish not lies or incorrect information about what our government doing in our name, but rather truthful information based on official documents.

No one contests the need for the Government to keep secret strictly-defined categories of information, the disclosure of which could threaten our national security – for example, troop movements at a time of conflict. But that is not what this Bill is about – as the General Council of the Bar has pointed out, the quite separate Promotion of Access to Information Act of 2000 already protects information which “genuinely requires protection from disclosure” and can legitimately be withheld in terms of the Constitution.

No, what the new Bill seeks to do is to give large numbers of government officials the power to classify information as "confidential", "secret", or "top secret" under the rubric that it would contravene a vaguely-defined “national interest.” Even commercial information could be declared secret, which – following media exposes of the activities of “tenderpreneurs” – invites the question: why?

President Zuma has told us that the Media Appeals Tribunal “is meant to protect South Africans, rich or poor, black or white, rural or urban.” He also says that professions such as architects, doctors, engineers and lawyers have mechanisms similar to what the ANC is proposing.

Yet there is a fundamental difference between those professions and the writing and printing of information and opinions in a democracy – the latter is protected by Section 16 of the Constitution. This states that: “(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of expression, which includes (a) freedom of the press and other media; (b) freedom to impart information or ideas; (c) freedom of artistic creativity; and (d) academic freedom and freedom of scientific research.”

Those rights are not limited to journalists – we all have them and we are all subject to the same limitations on them. One of those limitations is imposed on us by the Constitution, which prohibits narrowly-defined categories of speech and writing, such as propaganda for war, incitement of imminent violence or certain types of hate speech. Another limitation is imposed on us by the law against slander and defamation.

Apart from those kinds of restrictions, we all have the right to think, to say and to write what we like, and to print our views. Similarly, under Section 19 of the Constitution, every citizen has political rights, which include the right to campaign for a political party or cause. And under Section 15 of the Constitution, “everyone has the right to freedom of conscience, religion, thought, belief and opinion.” That is the right which guarantees us freedom of worship, and – again apart from those tightly-defined limitations – to say what we like from the pulpits of our churches and in our mosques, temples and synagogues.

The Constitution and the law do not require those of us who write, proclaim and publish our views – whether journalists or not – to get both sides of the story. Nor do they require politicians to present the views of their opponents, nor preachers to advocate the ideas of other denominations or faiths.

The fact that journalists have adopted a code of conduct in which they commit themselves to getting both sides of a story, and to basing their comments upon the facts, is admirable, but it is not a requirement of the Constitution or the law. It is, rather, the product of pressure from governments over 50 years, of the recognition by journalists that large, established newspapers have more power than small-circulation printed works, and of the desire of many journalists to hold themselves to higher standards in their publications than average members of the public.

What is a Media Appeals Tribunal meant to do to journalists that the law and their own self-regulation does not do already? Just as in other areas of our democracy, the pressure of public opinion can be brought to bear on popular institutions. Journalists acknowledge that they make mistakes, and that apologies and retractions do not have as much visibility and force as breaking news stories Their acknowledgement was reflected by the prominent front-page apology to Matthews Phosa and the ANC in last Sunday’s City Press.

Would a Media Appeals Tribunal fine journalists? Jail them? Ban them from writing, for a period or forever? What about church journalists or religious communicators? Why should they be permitted freedoms other journalists do not have?

As preachers, we exercise a right to speak out prophetically in sermons, in pastoral letters read to tens of thousands of people in churches across the country on Sundays, and in church media. Neither the Constitution nor the law require religious institutions to subject their clergy to codes of conduct. If the Government is going to act against journalists who subscribe to a code of conduct, why not against preachers, who don’t? Will our communication also be gagged and our utterances criminalised if we reveal information or express the kinds of opinion which have made the ruling party so angry with the media?

Tamper with press freedom, and you tamper with the freedom of every citizen to receive and impart information and ideas. Tamper with freedom of expression, and you tamper with political rights. Tamper with the rights of religious institutions – including the rights of Christian churches to proclaim the Gospel as they see fit, in the pulpit or in print – and you destroy freedom of conscience, religion, thought, belief and opinion.

Our freedoms are indivisible. We cannot draw a line around press freedom, restricting the rights of journalists, without limiting the rights of all of us.