NHLANHLA MBATHA
There is no doubt that South Africa is going through a very difficult phase.
We are leaders - or not too far from the top of the log - in all the wrong leagues. We are the global log leaders in terms of youth unemployment.
According to the International Monetary Fund, we have highest levels of inequality in the world. The rates of poverty are among the worst for a country of South Africa’s wealth. The levels of crime are worryingly high with one of our major cities, Cape Town, recently listed in the top 10 of the most dangerous cities in the world.
The proportions of violence - especially against women and children - are unacceptably very high. Corruption is all too pervasive and endemic in our society.
These and a myriad of other problems have brought South Africa to a crossroad.
The choices are simple - allow South Africa to continue in the current trajectory and let it perish or take decisive actions and save this beautiful country. For most South Africans the choice is clear - the latter of the two options is the preferred one.
However, as is often the case in our country, as South Africans we are great at identifying and solving problems but extremely poor at implementation.
As a result, the country has continued on a downward spiral while most of us are doing the talking, strategising or complaining about the deteriorating condition of our country.
Luckily for us, we have strong faith-based leaders, who, in times of difficulties, seem to always come to the rescue to provide moral leadership, guidance and fortitude.
The contribution of faith-based leaders to the future of our country goes back a very long way.
In late 18th century, it was the men and women of faith who, opposed to colonialism, broke away from churches led by missionaries to form African Independent Churches, later known as Ethiopian Churches.
The leaders and members of the churches later formed various native congresses, which subsequently amalgamated into the South African National Native Congress and later renamed the African National Congress.
When the SA National Native Congress was formed in the early 1900s, South Africa was going through another crossroads. The vast majority of South Africans were about to lose their land in terms of the Land Act of 1913.
Ethiopian Church leaders, through their congresses, could sit back and watch or they could take action to fight the racist legislation that would dispossess most South Africans of their land and their right to own land.
As fate would have it, the men and women of faith chose to fight back, and as they say, the rest is history.
The trend of religious leaders fighting injustices, guiding their followers and providing a moral compass continued into the difficult, dark days of apartheid. Church leaders such Dominee Beyers Naude, Reverend Allan Boesak, Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, Sister Bernard Ncube and Archbishop Tutu, among others, were at the forefront of the fight against apartheid atrocities.
Of course, it was not only leaders from the Christian faith who opposed apartheid. Imam Abdullah Haron, an ardent anti-apartheid activist, was detained before being killed while in detention.
Leaders of other faiths, in many instances and at different times in our history, used their churches, synagogues, mosques, temples and other places of worship to provide refuge and shelter to those facing the brutality of apartheid and injustice.
So, it is not surprising at this point in South Africa’s history, when the country is at another crossroads, that the faith leaders are once again at the forefront of addressing the challenges confronting us.
This week leaders of different faiths - under the banner of The Interfaith Forum of South Africa (TIFSA) - met on Robben Island discuss practical ways to “address the morass of our country”.
The forum is made up of the SA Council of Churches, the Muslims Judicial Council, the SA Hindu Maha Sabha, Office of the Chief Rabbi (Jewish community), the Council of Muslim Theologians, Nazareth Baptist Church (Ekuphakameni and Ginyezinye), the Evangelical Alliance of SA, Council of African Independent Churches, and the International Fellowship of Christian Churches.
As a result, the forum has suggested that it will host a two-day “solutions-driven national convening” from 9 to 11 October 2023. It also urged all South Africans to be “warriors” against corruption. And finally, TIFSA faith leaders have committed to using their “spaces” for voter education in preparation for next year’s general election.
The forum primarily seeks to address the ills of the South African social, political and economic life that have strangled the country since the dawn of democracy in 1994.
Poverty, unemployment, crime, gender-based violence, racism, corruption – among others - have been identified by the forum as responsible for the decay that is bedeviling South Africa.
“Our identity as a nation has never been more fragile, and the fabric of our society is now a series of patches, sewn together in desperation and fear which barely hold us together as we teeter far too close to the edge of our existence,” the Archbishop of Cape Town Thabo Makgoba, in his capacity as the president of the SA Council of Churches, said.
With over 90 percent of South Africans identifying themselves as religious or somewhat religious, the intervention of faith leaders might be the catalyst that South Africa so desperately needs to get itself out of the trenches and to take its rightful place as a nation that is law-abiding, cares for its people and whose people are gainfully employed, live in peace and harmony and enjoy the fruits of their hard-won democracy.
So, the practical steps proposed by TIFSA deserve the support of each and every South African.
Mbatha is with TIFSA’S communications unit.
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