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

REV WESLEY MABUZA: To fetch some water, Sir. [PAUSE].
Thank you Chairperson, I was beginning to be too serious, actually. As the   present General Secretary of ICT, I feel very humble before my predecessors.   Whatever I do, albeit in different circumstances, is in continuity with the   trend set by my predecessors. ICT operates outside the status quo of both church   and state, although the ultimate aim is to serve the State which is wider than   the governing group of people and the church which is much more profound than   the institutional church. ICT nevertheless is proud to be an affiliate of the   SACC. Liberation theologists' biblical imperative is to be found in Isaiah Chapter   61, verse 1 - 4, and is quoted in Luke Chapter 4, verse 18-19, particularly   the words "To set at liberty those who are oppressed. For this reason   a group of Theologians met together at that critical time of South Africa's   history, and using the process of wide and in-depth consultation, eventually   came up with what came to be known as the Carus Document, issued as a challenge   to the churches. In its short lifetime, the institute has suffered much at the   hands of the previous government and from rejection by most churches who have   misunderstood is vision and mission. Both government and the churches singled   out liberation theology as the devil's theology and thus accused ICT of serving   the interest of.[TAPE ENDS] [inaudible] have a lot in common between   communism, barring atheism and Christianity than the church would care to admit.   History nevertheless did vindicate the ICT. Some valuable contributions were   made by ICT in spite of all these hostilities. For example training of solid   leadership during the lean years of apartheid when there was no overt political   leadership; change to the theological paradigm in South Africa; publication   of the Carus Document in 1985, which accelerated the process, promoting a world-wide   theological reflection network. For example, the Road to Damascus was a production   of that nature, producing parliamentary candidates and church leaders who had   close associations with ICT, providing a forum of sharing of experiences and   knowledge amongst concerned pastors, theologians and Christians in general.   Throughout its existence, ICT has received overseas funding from organisations   and church individuals who aligned themselves with the ideals of the institute.   A small but significant contribution also comes from its membership, which is   world-wide. It is these contributions which have enabled ICT to maintain its   independent status. I now come to the essence of ICT as a prophetic movement.   ICT operates outside church and government structures in order that it could   provide an ongoing independent critique. For this reason, some people now label   ICT as the institute of critical theologians, while others label it as the organisation   of spoilers. Both labels have become unpopular these days, whereas in the not   so distant past, people gained popularity by being critical or by being regarded   as spoilers of the system. But had it not been for those critical theologians   or spoilers, little progress would have been made. Today the gradual disappearance   of those kinds of prophets of old is leaving a vacuum that is difficult to fill.   In its critique of the church, ICT stated that some churches in South Africa   were engaging in state theology, which meant that churches supported the apartheid   regime, based on Romans 13, while conveniently ignoring Revelations 13. May   I, with your permission, just debate briefly and coach what you just said, Chairperson,   about the fact that it becomes a hidden thing, when you talk about state theology.   It is a very closed door, behind closed doors, that happens which is not overtly   seen usually as state theology. And other churches resorted to church theology.   A very superficial critique of apartheid lacking in in-depth analysis of the   prevailing context, whilst stressing the need for reconciliation and peace,   at the expense of justice. ICT wanted reconciliation at the time but not at   the expense of the poor. The prophetic movement was intended to be in continuity   with these persecuted prophets of the past. Those who never took anything for   granted. Instead, they raised questions about the policies of both secular and   religious leaders that must have kept the nation lively and awake as a prophetic   movement does today. But questions are not raised for their own sake. Their   aim is to ensure a healthy public policy and just governance for all. Chairperson,   ICT is proud to say that throughout its existence in South Africa, it has done   just that. For that, it incurred the wrath of the previous government, or was   temporarily disowned by the church and regarded as a stepchild because it made   both religious and secular leaders uncomfortable. With the knowledge that the   resources of this county are enough to feed its people, it equitably distributed,   and that this was not the case as the apartheid government preserved them for   a few, we aligned ourselves as ICT publicly with the poor and oppressed. We   then challenged and approached on theological grounds anything that threatened   the well being of the poor and oppressed, while we looked for a way out of our   suffering. It is in this light that we published and campaigned against the   status quo. Also with the knowledge that apartheid since it was officially endorsed   by the then Orange Free State Synod of the DRC in 1935 and was implemented in   full swing by Dr Verwoerd in 1958, and that the non-DRC churches had not done   much to oppose it, we adopted the critical stands towards these churches.
At the time, we thought that the problem was the wrong abstract theology, which   they inherited from Europe, but now we realise that that theology was used as   a scape-goat in a situation where the reality was that the churches, especially   white members of these churches, had benefited a lot from apartheid. Regrettably,   one feels in hindsight, that when we talk of the problem of the churches during   apartheid, we are essentially talking about those who controlled them, our white   fellow Christians. We would like the commission to note that this aspect has   a lot of implications for restitution and reconstruction. If Christians had   raised their voice from the beginning and rejected all privileges, things would   have been different. Why ICT's reluctance to support the TRC? Chairperson, I   now come to the most delicate part of this presentation. When ITC first received   the invitation to participate in this hearing, we wrote back to Dr Piet Meiring,   stating ICT's reluctance to participate in the TRC process. This was not intended   as a publicity stunt, nor did it arise out of ignorance of what goes on, nor   was it motivated by attempts to encourage anarchy, nor a feeling of self-righteousness.   ICT's reluctance to lend unqualified support to the TRC process stems from a   deeper analysis and scepticism. Let me elaborate briefly 1. The question of   perpetrator and victim. We found the summons of both activists and upholders   of the system to account for their actions confusing. To us this meant equating   the perpetrator and the victim as if they are equally culpable. Although we   did not expect the TRC to pass judgement, we at least expected it to distinguish   between those who should give accounts of their deeds and those who should feel   free to comment on the situation. This, of course, did not only apply to the   ICT and the religious communities, but to our former liberation movements as   well. We felt that such an approach was trivialising the process. It has become   clear, Chairperson, during some searching's of the TRC, that for some perpetrators,   the TRC is a non-event, and therefore of no consequence. ICT's problem was the   message this would convey would be conveying concerning the prophetic movement.   We changed our mind out of respect for the constitution upon which we all agree,   and the very person sitting on this panel.
2. A concern about the society beyond the TRC process. While a lot of hidden   activities have been uncovered by the TRC investigating units, ICT is concerned   that virtually all perpetrators of such gross violations are getting off with   impunity. To the extent that we are not calling for executions or life imprisonment.   We cannot be accused of expecting Nuremberg type of trials. Lack of a mechanism   that makes the perpetrators take responsibility for their actions is causing   some resentment to say the least. ICT's concern, Chairperson, is about what   happens beyond the TRC process. Are we all going to look back in the next five   years with sadness at the waste of money, human resources and valuable time?   If so, we wondered whether all these resources could not have been channelled   to other uses which could better build communities which had suffered for so   long from degradation and deprivation. It is clear that people on the ground   do not understand what the National Reconciliation Act is all about, since racism   and exploitation still abound. The bitterness caused by our gory past has not   yet subsided. All this cannot be ignored if our future is to be built on a sound   foundation. To date, Chairperson and members of the commission, we still have   not found an answer to our question. Our AGM this year, however, has mandated   ICT's steering committee to set up a task force, whose task would be to work   out guidelines for a society beyond the TRC process. 
TRC for the churches. We had also thought that churches needed their own TRC,   instead of being called to account at this process. Our problem is that the   present process arose out of a political settlement. As such, it is limited   by the terms of agreement in what it can do. Even the interpretation of the   terms so familiar to Christian theology, for example reconciliation, justice,   truth, reflect these limitations. Christians know very well what the meaning   of reconciliation is and what its implications are. They also know the biblical   understanding of justices and what their implications are. The present process   has not mentioned terms such as restitution or penance or God's role, which   relates to the terms it uses. It would not be proper for us, however, to expect   this of the present process. Rather, we though that Christians would talk amount   themselves and work out what they could do. The same could be expected of other   religious communities.
Lack of economic dimension We also felt that the present process was silent   about the economic dimension of reconciliation. We understand that there are   other processes taking place, as well as structures that deal with other issues,   but when we talk of national reconciliation, we expect a body with the stature   of the TRC to go beyond listening to killings and torture, to include the category   of those who benefited directly or indirectly economically. Chairperson, we   are thinking here of both black and white South Africans. We did not know at   the time that the category of business people would be added. Our focus was   not only on business people, but on everyone who had been enriched by apartheid   while others were dying in the bush and the townships, and police offices. We   felt that these were the people who should be compelled to plough back their   wealth towards reconstruction and reparation. In this regard, Chairperson, we   align ourselves with the recent view expressed by the Stellenbosch academic,   who made a submission to this commission that those who possess more than R2   million in cash and assets should be taxed for reconstruction. But we wish to   go further and reduce the R2 million to every R1 million, to increase the slice   of the cake. We also want to make a call to others who benefited in the same   way to make an extra contribution. These are the people who should be raising   the R3 billion needed for reparation. Chairperson, we do not think that this   is unrealistic. A number of people are still homeless, poor and crammed in townships   which were originally intended to be transit camps to fulfil the white by night   dream, promised to its voters by the apartheid rulers of the past. There is   no hope that these open jails could ever be dismantled for the next half a century.   This is not what the struggle was about. It would be different if we were all   starting from scratch. For the majority, unfortunately, things remain as they   were. To conclude, Chairperson, at the fifth point.
Lack of clarity about categories Finally the criteria for creating categories   was not clear. Who should really be called to the TRC? Is it the foot soldier   or the commander? We thought that all those impositions of responsibility needed   to do the accounting. If ministers or leaders of religious communities were   asked to make an appearance, why were teachers or university lecturers not asked   to make an appearance? There are many ways of killing a nation. One of the most   cruel ways of doing this is by attacking the nation's psyche and by so doing,   destroy its mind. Putting it to sleep, driving it to drunkenness and violence.   Destroying children of future leaders and future builders of the economy of   that particular nation. Chairperson, we want to submit that the architects of   most of this were academics in the employ of the apartheid system. Certain universities   are known to have been factories of all the commodities apartheid needed in   order for it to succeed. Besides those who studied at the so-called bush colleges,   know what it means to be taught by academics who were actually soldiers or reserve   soldiers. These people, chairperson, were not under any duress. They were willingly   upholding the geology of apartheid. Yet these have been forgotten or not forced   to account to this commission. 
Having clarified the points of our reservations, the present process however,   is a reality and we cannot wish it away. Therefore, a way forward, very briefly,   is a need to devise a mechanism of reconciliation beyond the TRC process, to   work out a way of restitution that will not tax the tax payer further, to call   on the religious community to have their own TRC, to work
towards the establishment of a national bank by the churches. We believe, as   ICT, that our submission will receive the attention it deserves, so that while   we work towards reconciliation, the essential channels of justice will not be   ignored. Thank you chairperson and members of the commission.