A story that warrants another book

A story that would warrant another book
Students from the USA, currently studying the churches’ role during and post apartheid, made me rediscover what my own life has been all about. I spoke to them about the ecumenical movement and the struggle against apartheid and in doing that I saw that this theme also has become my life story. It is a story that warrants another book. I am committed to write it.

As it happened, yesterday I was asked to speak to a student group of about 20 from the USA. They come from Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania. They are presently building up an exchange programme together with our university and a few other institutions in South Africa. The students are involved in multicultural studies and in South Africa they have focused on three things, how the churches in fact supported the apartheid ideology, how the churches struggled against it and how they now are involved in the healing of memories and reconciliation.
My colleague Christo Lombard has been responsible for the programme on our side and he asked me to say something about the ecumenical movement and the struggle against apartheid.

I thought it was a good idea as I have been quite heavily involved both in terms of own commitment and in terms of study. Subsequently I planned to give an introduction of about 30 minutes hoping that a substantial discussion could take place afterwards. I opted to speak along three lines: first the ecumenical resistance to the system within South Africa, secondly the ecumenical involvement in this issue on international level and thirdly a brief comment on why reconciliation seems to be such a difficult thing also here in South Africa even at this moment.

This is not the place to repeat what I said but rather perhaps to define what each section actually had as a core message. When it comes to the internal struggle it is striking how difficult it was to take a clear stand and it took a long time. This was also true internationally at first. The World Council of Churches’ General Secretary Dr Visser’t Hooft visited South Africa in 1952 and found that the talks he had with church leaders who supported apartheid (basically from the Dutch Reformed Church) still gave some hope.

Soon after the Sharpeville massacre in 1960 when more than 60 people, who demonstrated against the pass laws, were killed by the police, the churches came together for discussions. Even then it was seen by some as legitimate to claim justice in South Africa through separation, if only there was equality and fairness. It took a long time for the churches to take a radical stand against apartheid demanding a new society that could only be one, integrated society where ultimately race would be totally irrelevant. If it wasn’t for a few prophetic leaders like Beyers Naudé and Desmond Tutu the churches would still be lagging behind.

When it comes to the international engagement many have still not understood what an impact this engagement had. South Africa could not survive in total isolation and the radicalism of the WCC on this issue also helped the churches in South Africa to take courage. It was at the same time much easier for outsiders to be radical but the churches in the ecumenical movement played a role in two ways. They were able to put pressure on their own governments (like USA) to put sanctions in place against South Africa and secondly they could pray concretely for the people of South Africa and their liberation without ceasing. This latter activity has been underestimated but was in fact decisive in terms of giving courage and power to the churches in South Africa to continue opposing their regime.

If there for a long time was a tendency in the churches at home to keep away from apartheid as a political issue, in the international movement there was a tendency to overemphasize the political issue. The role of the churches in South Africa could never be to form a new government but to work for justice and peace and reconciliation between all South Africans.

This latter task was taken on also by the new government formed in 1994 through the formation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It was a great move by the first administration under Nelson Mandela, but it was as if the task was taken away from the churches; for who, if not the churches should play the role of reconcilers in the new South Africa?

Well, the church could and should always play this role, but somehow there have been difficulties. The churches are not up to their calling.

In my presentation I said that one has to keep justice and reconciliation together at all times. Furthermore, the problem right now is that it is difficult or impossible for reconciliation to take place as there are still residual elements of apartheid easily recognizable.

I spoke for thirty minutes, but the following discussion lasted well over an hour. It was a sheer pleasure to see how seriously the issues were taken and as the American group was a mixed group it was probably easy for them to identify with some of the problems at hand.

It is very difficult at this moment to rationalize and explain why the discussion took the form it took, I simply don’t know. What I know is that for me this encounter with these students was an eye-opener that I did not expect at all. Apparently I had almost forgotten that I personally have been and are caught up in all three lines of engagement when it comes to the ecumenical movement and the struggle against apartheid. What became abundantly clear to me was that I in fact have lived my life along these lines. At the moment I am deeply engaged in the issue of reconciliation, or lack thereof, both in terms of study at the UWC and in terms of church, that is in our Lutheran church. Further back, my personal history has gone along the two first lines, some crucial years in South Africa during the hard apartheid years and then an intensive engagement on the international scene with southern African and general ecumenical issues for many years.

If anything I must be conditioned by this struggle. It has invaded my life at least since 1975. I thank God for it and God-willing I will do my best to make sure that another book is written on the ecumenical movement and the struggle against apartheid with that unmistakable slant of also being my personal story.

I give thanks to the teachers and students of Messiah College in Pennsylvania who re-opened my eyes to make me see what my life in fact has been all about.