The South African Council of Churches (SACC) says it plans to tackle the challenges and imbalances in the country through a campaign called ‘The South Africa We Pray For’‚ stating that research it commissioned shows that inequality today is far greater than it was at the end of apartheid.

This prayer and action campaign‚ to be launched at a special Reconciliation Day service on December 16‚ will see the church taking an active role in addressing the societal imbalances currently experienced in a post-apartheid South Africa‚ it said on Wednesday.

The General Secretary of the SACC‚ Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana‚ said: “The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) came and went‚ yet we remain a polarised nation – spatially‚ socially‚ economically‚ and politically. South Africa still does not enjoy a fully reconciled existence‚ and our objective is to fiercely work through the barriers to this vision.”

 ‘The South Africa We Pray For’ will tackle the issues of healing and reconciliation‚ poverty and inequality‚ economic transformation‚ family fabric‚ and anchoring democracy.

Bishop Mpumlwana said the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC)‚ the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR)‚ and the Nelson Mandela Foundation had assisted the SACC with research on the issues in question.

Key insights from the research pointed to the need for complete reconciliation. The vast levels of inequality which stemmed from economic imbalances and the lack of sustainable economic transformation were where the most urgent work lay.

“Statistics from the SACC-commissioned report state that of 40 countries on the costs of inequality‚ South Africa is rated as the worst. The report goes on to say that inequality today is far greater than it was at the end of apartheid. The issues of youth unemployment‚ pegged at nearly 70%‚ paint a bleak picture of a society with little to look forward to or hope for. The SACC‚ therefore‚ recommends a strong education-driven intervention to tackle this.

“One of the most dramatic interventions in tackling poverty inequality stems from the dire need for financial literacy for those communities riddled in debt‚ and who are preyed upon by unscrupulous financial services practitioners (both legal and illegal)‚” Bishop Mpumlwana said .

“We are aware that the bulk of the churches involvement in the economic sphere has been limited to charitable and welfare donations. But the time has come to change this‚” he added.

“We have a task-team looking into a range of practical solutions that build on both the survival experience of poor South Africans‚ and what has worked through church interventions elsewhere in the world‚ which will contribute to economic transformation‚” added the Bishop.

“In addition‚ the remnants of a politically and socially challenged past have translated into the dramatic disintegration of the fabric of family. The shocking revelation from the research conducted by Chimere-Dan 2015‚ is that by 2014‚ 62% of South African families were single-parent families‚ and only 38% were couple families.

“This speaks to the challenge of absent fathers‚ and the church has a role to play in digging deep and interrogating the patriarchal society we live in‚ that has resulted in male family abandonment‚” said Bishop Mpumlwana.

Women were revealed as heading the bulk of the households categorised under the 62%. Seven out of 10 children born in South Africa in 2014 were born of women who had never been married‚ demonstrating the strength and resilience of women who served as matriarchs in family structures.

“The church can no longer sit back in observation‚ trusting that someone else will fight this fight. We have boldly made recommendations to addressing these challenges‚ in consultation with social and economic scientists and activists. We may not live long enough to enjoy the shade of this tree we are planting; however‚ we are committed to ensuring that the seeds are sewn‚ and nurtured‚” concluded Mpumlwana.