Rethinking democracy in South Africa through religious spectacles continues to pose a formidable challenge to systems of governance even in the contemporary political space. Renowned religious leaders and activists have recently added their voices to the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s initiative to foster good governance through the memory and works of fervent liberation icons. Through the symposium “Christians as citizens in a democratic society,” Bishop Mpumlwana revisited this challenging path with exciting but rather critical analyses for reflection. The CIHA Blog is pleased to repost this summary of the symposium and keynote.
Christians as citizens in a democratic society
by Bishop Mpumlwana Malusi
Introduction
In his introduction Professor Johannes Smit (Dean of the School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics) highlighted points for critical reflection by all Christians and other religious actors within a democratic context. He argued that Christianity was shipped to the shores of Africa – particularly South Africa and this has resulted into a phenomenon he called “de-Africanization”. He explained that the bearers of this religion lacked sufficient articulation on how Christianity or Christianizing would impact on the cultural value systems and cultural practices of the indigenous African society. He pointed out that African cultures have suffered tremendously due to the destruction of the African values. Quoting Mugo he argued that colonialism has led to the subjugation of the African people and this has resulted into dehumanization and deliberate underdevelopment amidst an absence of critique. Indigenous people have since become slaves of unknown foreign systems – a concept termed as “mis-education.”
Secondly he identified some of the key challenges that citizens of a democratic South Africa continue to face – the unequal distribution of land, the psychology of race, representation of the other, failure to address sub-alternity and class inequality and the wealth gap pointing out that the bourgeois elite live on 72% of the total income while the lower strata of society are surviving on 7.3%, 2% and 1.3% respectively. He remarked that such a quandary poses a challenge to Christianity and other religious persuasions that have the task to reclaim the values and practices that form the core of Christianity/religious education in any democracy.
Keynote Reflection
Bishop Mpumlwana Malusi[1] confirmed that the topic under discussion is indeed an intriguing one. For him it is about the people of faith. He informed delegates that he had put out a draft for conversation called “call self a Christian theologian” in which he stressed that the best way to participate in the inter-faith movement is to be serious about your own faith.
Bishop Mpulwana reiterated that Christians should reflect deeply on the role that Christians played in the old political dispensation. This will facilitate a further reflection on what Christians are doing now, what they are not doing and what they ought to be doing.
We were once trapped in an undemocratic dispensation that (1) manufactured poverty, (2) disposed Africans of their land through the Land Act of 1913, (3) created Bantustans and claimed that African have a right to 13% of the land, (4) established the prohibitive factor through pass-laws which prevented indigenous people freedom of movement and habitation in the land of their birth and created a funnel through which that movement had to take place, (5) created a migrant workers system that devalued the labourer into cheap labour and which became the model for growth in South Africa.
The system furthermore manufactured fear through the police, army, intelligence service and other protection units. They instilled a fear to dream and those who dared to dream, dream of a new South Africa where Black and White would be free, became victims of the system and these people were prohibited from talking to more than two people at a time. Policemen were daily killer shooting black people with live ammunition, special Branch Police Service were responsible for the irrevocable disappearance of Black people, car bombings, letter mobs, etc., justice in the judicial courts of BJ Vorster wan non-existent. Intelligence Affairs (Interior) dealt with birth, deaths and identity in a dehumanizing fashion and this is how the system manufactured fear. The system denied freedom of association such as Prohibition of Interference Act, the Immorality Act: prohibiting mixed Marriages between races and the separate of Amenities Act: preventing corporate worship and mixed or inter-racial sports or socializing.
The system thus prevented freedom of association from birth to death, bred discrimination and denied freedom of conscience by instilling the belief that everything will turn out to be alright.
In 1985 there was awareness that things had gone too far, hence 1986 marked the year of the emergence of the Kairos Document. It was during this time that Christians were called upon to pray for the end to an unjust ruling system.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) was a powerful suppressant of the truth and it propagated the denial of conscience. White people were made to believe that they were God’s gift for Africa, which was a distortion of reality.
This distortion of the Gospel of Good News was effected through the Suppression of Communism Act and was directed at people like Dr Beyers Naude, Dr Allan Boesak, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who declared the truth of the Gospel. Banning orders were issued against all those who were perceived to be enhancing communist beliefs.
It was Archbishop (Emiritus) Tutu who declared before the Eloff Commission in 1981 that “It is our faith and our theology that is under scrutiny. This God whom we worship is on the side of the poor and oppressed and He is the One who leads His people out of all forms of bondage. We will not be prescribed to by the principalities of the day.”
What Can Be Expected?
Bishop Mpulwana lamented the fact that Christians today think that everything is alright. However, he reminded delegates of Fr. Albert Nolan’s words that while we have this hope we are simultaneously confronted by challenges. We are reminded of how the Gospel is:
- Announcing what is right
- Denouncing what is wrong
- Demands practising what is preached
When confronted by a congregation who needed money to build a Church, he asked them a question “If this Church dies one day, what would you like to be written on its tombstone?” Emphasized by Joe Slovo and Chris Hani, “The Church should be preaching the Good News here and now.” “I want the good life now”… Chris Hani echoed.
Mpulwana pointed to the confusion of the Church today manifested in the unprecedented diversity, denominationalism and various designations. These demonstrate the diverse citizenship within the Church. He asserted that the small “mushroom churches” continue to exist through a survivalist strategy and indigenous Churches represent the pain and poverty that came through deprivation. The larger Churches reflect a tyrannic survival rule. However the forthrightness of Tutu point to the nature of the relationship between Church and State today.
What Kind of Influence Can Christians Exert as Citizens of This Democracy?
- Mpulwana pointed to the release of Nelson R. Mandela and highlights the role the Church has played. On his release Mandela acknowledged the role that the church had played and how it had used its different resources to effect its role and influence which ultimately contributed to his release.
- He furthermore cited the words of Albert Nolan who emphasized that we shall never be less critical of the state and that we shall not subscribe to blindness to the injury of others as long as I/my group can benefit.
- Not to be usurped by a political party, but pursue what you believe, clinging to your values.
- Let us not lose hope for the future.
- A totalitarian faith will extinguish your faith in the Bible.
- Abandonment of the Gospel can be fatal. People should not be searching for social satisfaction, but rather for spiritual spaces. They go to church not for spiritual, but human experiences. Their decisions are not influenced by spiritual experience. There must be a balance between the human experience and the Biblical text. We should do our theology on our knees.
- When we take a stand, we do so with a value in order to make a difference.
- Freedom is deeper – it gives you five times more freedom.
- Forgive your own limitations
- Strive for a freedom without fear
- Strive for a freedom from denial
- Uphold a principle of a freedom of the press without statutory interference.
Bishop Mpumlwana emphasized that this freedom is possible for Christians within the South African democracy, because he feels what brings us together is UBUNTU. One can participate within a political party, but you must stick to your values.
We will not dispute who holds the monopoly in faith. Uphold the Mandelan notion of freedom. To think that 1994 made the announcement that we have arrived, displays a limited idea of freedom. The quest for total freedom is a never-ending process.
An Analysis
The address of Bishop Mpumlwana was followed by an analytical expose of the theme by Prof Bonganjalo Goba[2] He was tasked to problematize the theme and formulate key questions for reflection.
Professor Bonganjalo Goba started by acknowledging the historical context given by Bishop Mpumlwana. He furthermore acknowledged that the theme is problematic because Christians today are citizens of a broken world – and that Christians operate in different contexts. Professor Goba purported that we are called to transcend our context. He acknowledged that South Africa has the best constitution in the world in which is entrenched the freedoms that we enjoy. However, while reading this renowned constitution, we see the squalor in which people live, we notice the abject poverty people that to endure, we notice the flaws in our education system to which our students/learners are subjected, we observe a health system that is failing the majority of the people and we are pointed to a growing economy that does not translate to anything in the lives of ordinary citizens and rural dwellers who are supposed to be the beneficiary citizens of a two-decade old democracy.
Professor Goba pointed out that the assumption is always made that Christians live in a different kind of freedom – that Christians have a different interpretation of what democracy is. Yet we as Christians/Religious Formations have a role to play in a democratic country. He formulated the following questions for reflection:
- What is it that excites you as a South African that wants to make you dance?
- What are the contradictions that you see in the South African society that prevents you from sleeping well at night?
- Should Christians be members of political parties?
- What is the role Christians can play in democratic South Africa?
- When you hear BATHO PHELE, what is the role of Christians/religious formations within a democracy?
- Move from critical solidarity to what?
- What has gone wrong on the brink of a failed state?
- Why is it not a priority for South African leadership to develop an own education system?
Concluding Remarks
Professor Goba pointed out that in a democracy, everyone has a role and we ought to be that in a good way to make our contribution to society and principally to refrain from stone-throwing from the side-line and get involved in the nitty-gritty of the formation process of the young democracy, set a good example of principle and pursuance of sound value systems e.g. Adv. Thuli Madonsela the NPA chief. Speak the truth. Follow her example of a good public office. We need more people like her for she reflects a good model of values for Christianity and other religious persuasion, follow the Desmond Tutu leadership model. Be someone who wants to contribute to make a difference. His grip on social science influences him to say things that are not said by the Church such as following the VUCA principle:
V – Volatility: Acknowledge that we live in a crisis-riddled world. It seems as if everything is falling apart; everything is exploding.
U – Uncertainty: Acknowledge that we live in an uncertain world. Do not pretend to know everything. Prepare yourself to deal with your failure and the failures of others.
C – Cancer: Be curious about how people think. Return to African customs and values. Return to African land, laws and traditions.
A – Analyse: Social analysis is an indispensable tool to understand what make our communities to operate the way they do. This required a return to our own systems of operation and to do away with foreign importations and transplants.
Notably, as Christians we are citizens of a broken and damaged world we are called to not take things for granted, unravel things that are complex and delve deeper and study more and think innovatively and creatively about new ways that can be used to do things we have always done. Reading from Matthew 5: 13-16, he remarked that we live in a human South Africa, we live in the divine kingdom, we must demonstrate where our allegiance lie, we must make choices and take a stand, and we should unpack the layers of our onions to understand what we stand for when things fall apart around us and the core values we represent.
[1] Keynote Speaker of the day, Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana. He is the Bishop of the Order of Ethiopia which is an original African Indigenous Church in South Africa. He is also the current president of the South African Council of Churches (SACC).
[2] Professor Bonganjalo Goba is an internationally renowned social scientist and Systematic Theologian of note. Prof. Goba was introduced by Rev. Joey Naika. He was the former Principal of the Albert Luthuli College (ALC) within the Federal Theological Seminary whose thinking has been influenced by the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) of Steve Bantu Biko. He left the FEDSEM to further his studies at Chicago Theological Seminary where he completed a Ph. D. and the University of Chicago where he graduated with a Masters Degree on Social Sciences. He became a visiting professor of Lancaster Theological Seminary where he was teaching Theology and Ethics. He is also a former Vice-Chancellor of the Durban Institute of Technology. He is an esteemed theologian in Black Theology and a close friend of the renowned Professor James Cone. He is also a former President of the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA) and has published numerous articles and authored at least several books.