Churches have lost vital role

MORE than a week ago I attended a SACC Limpopo inaugural Reverend Abraham Maja annual ecumenical lecture in Polokwane.

Maja was elected first South African Council of Churches provincial secretary in Limpopo in 1975 and served as national deputy general secretary- of the SACC in the late 80s.

The lecture was delivered by the ANC's Joel Netshitenzhe.

Netshitenzhe is also executive director of the Mapungubwe Institute. Running through the theme of his talk was a seminal document adopted by leaders of the religious community in 1985 in response to the appalling living conditions of the majority imposed by the apartheid government - the Kairos document.

In that document the leaders declared unequivocally that they could no longer be silent about the injustices of apartheid.

They challenged what they called "church theology" because its critique of the apartheid regime "was superficial and counter-productive since, instead of engaging in an in-depth analysis of the signs of our times, it relied on a few stock ideas derived from Christian tradition and then uncritically applied them to our situation". They argued that this derived from a lack of social analysis.

"Spirituality has tended to be an otherworldly affair that has very little to do with the affairs of this world. It is precisely this kind of spirituality that, when faced with the present crisis, leaves so many Christians in a state of near paralysis."

Listening to his presentation I wondered if the religious community and its leadership had not reverted back to what the Kairos document decried back in 1985 and whether perhaps beyond apartheid, religious organisations such as the SACC and other groups are struggling to redefine their new social roles in a democratic environment.

I tried hard to remember the last time I heard religious bodies standing up against the fraud and corruption in our public services, patronage and nepotism in the allocations of critical management posts and tenders in the public services and conspicuous consumption by tenderpreneurs while most people wallow in abject poverty.

Or against legislation that seeks to silence the media in the name of state security.

All of these impact negatively on the capacity of the state to provide basic services to communities, to create decent jobs and condemn the majority to permanent poverty.

Those organisations such as the SACC that opposed apartheid have an equal duty to stand up against the present government if its actions are wrong, unfair and unjust.

I use the example of the religious community to make the point that we as a society has lost the vigilance we had prior to 1994.

Netshitenzhe said: "If success is defined by the luxury car that one owns as distinct from acquisition of skill and an honest day's work, then one could act corruptly or even steal such a car and still be celebrated as successful."

For our country to become what thousands suffered and died for, we need to remain vigilant and express our discontent about the state of our nation and the destructive course we are on.

When future generations inherit social, political and economic ruins, we must be counted among those who stood up - those who tried to protect, advance and defend the national dream and not those who aided and abetted its demise either by commission or omission.

• The writer is a social and political commentator. He holds an MA degree in media and communications from Birmingham City University in the UK. The lecture is available on www.mistra.org.za