Anti-apartheid activist Archbishop Desmond Tutu joined the Struggle as a priest. A person of faith who had left life behind as a teacher to join the priesthood on a mission to bring healing and hope in a time of despair and indignity decided to turn his efforts to a national mission for change.

Tutu did not come to the work of emancipatory leadership because he was perfect. History has and will judge him as much for errors in judgment as it will his acts of heroism but it will never be able to judge him as a person who quietly said nothing in the face of injustice on Earth, while on the road to heaven.

Tutu famously said about injustice that “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”

Tutu is not renowned as a grassroots mobiliser. Within the limitations of his abilities and conscious of his unique position, he did lend his voice, credibility and presence to a struggle for justice.

It is possible that if he had chosen silence, no one would have noticed, but for better or worse Tutu chose the discomfort of speaking out even in post-apartheid when silence could have secured his own comforts.

What is the role of faith leaders, civil society activists and social justice movements?

While the streets of Johannesburg literally crumble, hunger besets the Eastern Cape, racism resurges in the US and the occupation of Palestine continues to grow into bloody violence, surely faith leaders should offer more than prayers, and activists should offer more than slogans?

Society looks to religion and faith to reveal the truth. We look to activists to speak truth to power, but as Karl Marx reminds us, as important as it is for philosophers to interpret the world, the point must be to change it.

Perhaps, it is foolish to look to civic organisations to solve political problems. It maywell be that when we look back at Tutu, Malcom X or as far back as John Wesley, we have unrealistic expectations that faith leaders can have a powerful influence on politics, with a power to act not only on matters of the eternal soul but those that impact the material conditions of people’s lives.

The separation of church and state does not compel them to step into political arenas but it equally does not prohibit any faith leader to raise their voice and hand forj ust causes.

In a time of poly-crisis in SA and across the world, I live in hope that the hundreds of thousands of people of faith, activists and leaders across SA will take up space in the fight for not only peace but justice.

In the past week I have witnessed the potential of people of faith to mobilise for change. From The Interfaith Forum of SA’s conference where 1,000 faith leaders gathered for awareness and action in Johannesburg, to the Cape Town crisis collective’s meeting, addressed by Dr Allan Boesak, putting forward a declaration for change, I heard the cries of people of faith lamenting the status quo and making calls to action, ready to take up a place in the fight for a SA w eall deserve in our lifetime.

To take a stand on the side of justice does not require an endorsement of parties, it must, however, invite political parties and actors to join those on the side of the marginalised and oppressed as a commitment to a just world.

It does not require partisanship to acknowledge that political problems require more than prayer, they require political solutions. Solutions built on people’s needs, people’s aspirations and most importantly people’s power.

I urge activists, especially people of faith, to not only befor the people but be with the people in political struggles as well. To determine an active role in walking with all oppressed and marginalised people of the world into amarvellous light that changes the course of the future for generations to come.