Special Hearings — Faith Community Hearings — 1997-11-17

REV WESLEY MABUZA: Sir, we made a brief presentation but we have a much more   comprehensive one which will be something that we think will be a contribution   to this TRC process. With your permission I would like to proceed. I thank you   Chairperson for inviting the Institute for Contextual Theology (ICT) to address   this gathering. Firstly, the ICT feels privileged to congratulate the TRC in   its achievements in the last two years. A number of acts against humanity have   been uncovered within a short space of time. A normal course of justice would   have been evaded by the perpetrators of the atrocities. Credit is also due in   large part to the TRC method of investigation for all that has been uncovered.   Families are now beginning to start a new life with the knowledge that those   who killed their loved ones have at last admitted it and in most cases showed   where they had buried them, painful as this discovery will always be. 
Today marks the beginning of a very important chapter in the truth and reconciliation   process, when religious bodies which possess the power to influence the hearts   and minds of the majority are called upon to account on how they have used or   abused that privilege. Religious bodies, Chairperson, hold considerable sway   in society, but they themselves are susceptible to all kinds of influences which   at times lead them to commit abuses intentionally or unintentionally. This moment,   Chairperson, is also significant because for the first time in the history of   our country, religious communities are called upon to give accounts of their   understanding of their mission in the context of apartheid and how they hope   to do mission in the future. Standing behind blanket statements made by the   SACC on behalf the churches during apartheid has not helped us to understand   the theological positions of some churches which we saw in practice contradicting   the mission of the SACC (I think this has already been mentioned). Incidentally,   it was this factor, among others, that led to the formation of ICT, and this   leads me to the next point What is the Institute for Contextual Theology? The   struggle in this country was for justice that would lead to liberation, restoration   and reconciliation. The church, however, did not have an appropriate theology   to underwrite that struggle. As a response to this reticence or inability to   act appropriately, ICT came into being in 1981. ICT fashioned itself according   to the prophetic tradition and unapologetically advocated the theology of liberation,   determined by the dynamics of the Southern African context. ICT counts itself   among those working towards the establishment of God's reign on earth. The first   general secretary of ICT was the Reverend Dr. Elliat Ngema, who was then followed   by the Reverend Dr. Frank Chikane, who is now in the Deputy President's office.   Dr Chikane was succeeded by the Reverend Dr. Mangaliso Mkhatshwa, who is now   Deputy Minister of Education. ICT wishes to pay tribute to these leaders, who   made highly significant contributions to Contextual Theology and to the liberation   of this country.

CHAIRPERSON: Where are you going?
REV.