Lisa Isaacs
FOLLOWERS of various religious groups visited places of worship in Cape Town during the annual Reconciliation Day Interfaith Walk yesterday.
The walk, now in its ninth year, started at the Groote Kerk at the top of Adderley Street, from where about 100 people proceeded through the Company’s Garden to the Gardens Shul in Hatfield Street and from there to the Boorhaanol Mosque in the Bo-Kaap.
Human Rights Commission chief executive Kayum Ahmed, who spoke at the Groote Kerk, said people should question their inherent bias towards each other.
“It is important to recognise our ability as survivors of apartheid to become the perpetrators of the atrocities. We must also see ourselves as the faces of the oppressors. We can never justify their actions, but we must acknowledge their pain and suffering,” he said.
At the Gardens Shul, Rabbi Osher Feldman said the key to reconciliation rested in efforts to find common ground with others. “All it takes is to make the effort for peace. Reconciliation is possible, despite the history and pain that has come between us. Even with those we see as our biggest enemies, there is always the potential for peace,” he said.
Anti-arms deal campaigner Terry Crawford-Browne, who has participated in the walk since its inception, said the event had a unique ability to bring various faiths together.
“Reconciliation will never be easy. Thankfully the country is together and all the problems we face are fixable. We’ve recognised we are in a precarious position and we have to step back before we inflict huge damage. I believe this is still possible. I am hopeful,” he said.
At the Boorhaanol Mosque, Amanda Stein, of the Claremont-Wynberg Hebrew Synagogue, said the youth were the key to continue the work of reconciliation. “Being a young person, it is extremely frustrating to see how much more work needs to be done.”
She said the youth she worked with rose above their situations and were role models. “This is how reconciliation will go on – from the ground up,” she said.
Dean of St George’s Cathedral Michael Weeder said reconciliation involved the acknowledgement of the different roles religions played in oppression. “Healing starts here, with the way we bless and accept each other for our common humanity,” he said.
Anti-apartheid activist Michael Lapsley, who lost his hands and an eye when a letter bomb exploded while he was in Zimbabwe in 1990, said the struggles of the past should not be overlooked.
“This has become a day of inclusion, but if we are aiming to reconcile with others, we first have to deal with our own stuff. Reconciliation of the other is also about reconciliation with ourselves,” he said.
Lapsley said the start of a national conversation about the “pain and wounds” suffered by the oppressed was what was needed to spur countrywide reconciliation.