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Speech on Challenges facing Christians in the New Republic of South Africa
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 Premier's Office

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 EASTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT
SPEECH BY PREMIER STOFILE
AT THE UNITING REFORMED CHURCH IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
 7 OCTOBER 2000



CHALLENGES FACING CHRISTIANS IN THE NEW REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

After more than three hundred years since the arrival of people from Europe, South Africa continues to display disparities among her 
people, which tend to coincide with race.Whether it is the Khoi, the San or the indigenous African, all of them continue to be at the 
bottom of the economic ladder.The advent of a democratic government has not changed this situation.The new South Africa faces a serious 
problem: it is still harassed by the legacy of its past.

I am acutely aware that many people do not want to hear this reference to the past.But the truth of the matter is simple, what we have 
today is part of the heritage from the past.It is easy for the world to accept the hunting down of Nazis after more than 50 years after the 
holocaust and more than twenty years after Pinochet.But no one must refer to apartheid.The victims in South Africa were black, not white.

It is common to single out the old DRC as the church that colluded with apartheid.This is correct only if we look at overt supporters of 
apartheid policies.Though the mainline English-speaking churches did not have a stated racial policy, they nevertheless practiced 
segregation in their schools, hospitals, seminaries and congregations.Bishop Reeves pointed out that the churches had control over these 
institutions long before the laws forbidding integration were passed.Indeed the churches did all too little to encourage such institutions 
to become integrated.

As a result of the way powerful institutions like the state and the church conducted their affairs, South Africa continues to be a country 
of two Nations.The nature, quality and ideology of the moves of the society have been left untouched.Deprivation, want, alienation, 
illiteracy and ill health continue.Using the-once-and-for-all argument, commentators on these problems dismiss the colonial and racist 
past’s contribution.They all clamour for redressal for the present Government.

Our view is that Human Rights and their protection and enhancement are concerned with human dignity.Human well-being is indivisible as are 
human rights. Current disparities within and between nations are a flagrant affront to the restoration of human dignity and the enhancement 
of human rights.We also believe that the formal act of the transfer of power to the majority must not simply mean the change of faces in 
office.There must be fundamental changes in how things are planned, done and preserved.There must be a radical transformation.

But the real question is:whose problems are these? Who should confront these issues, if possible to end them?Naturally the answer to the 
question is: All of us.But Government must lead the way.In doing so, government must also try to take along as big a majority of the 
country as possible.If good laws are passed and no one supports or obeys them, their impact on good governance and transformation is 
negative.Whilst it is relatively easy to attain Democracy, retaining it and making it work is not very easy.

Key to the Government’s success to carry out its programmes is a vibrant economic situation.It is common knowledge that the South African 
economy has been declining since the 1980’s and job losses have been increasing since then.It is also common knowledge that the economy of 
the Eastern Cape was systematically ruined since the late 1970’s as apartheid tried to break the back of what was perceived as a backbone 
of the liberation struggle.It is also common knowledge that although our economy is picking up, it is not growing fast enough to provide 
the required jobs.

When these facts are raised in Conferences of economists, they are believed by all.When we say them, they are lame excuses by an 
inefficient, corrupt and to-be-expected-to-be such government.Because it is a Black Government.What can you expect from them, as the saying 
goes.In the world of instant communication, ills that went unnoticed and unpublicized before have become daily news.The impression being 
that we have never had it so bad before.Maybe not in some communities.But where I grew up, a number of these things have been there, 
including corrupt and disrespectful civil servants.I also remember how I took meals to my “aunts” (oomakazi) who were at Empilweni Hospital 
and at Elizabeth Donkin Hospitals in 1962 and 1964.I also remember how my grandfather died on the way to hospital after traveling for 60 km 
to the nearest Hospital.My paternal grandmother died in Hospital not having been attended to for 3 days after being taken there.No, these 
events did not happen in 1994. They happened in the 1960’s and the 1970’s.I am sure there were many others like them elsewhere.

The Bill of Rights is what the whole of Chapter 2 of our constitution is about.Section 27 (2) has this to say about social and Health 
rights:

“The state must take reasonable legislative measures within its available resources, to achieve the progressive realization of each of 
these rights.”

Within limited resources and with competing priorities facing us, we are doing all we can to improve the situation.Of course there are many 
letters to the editor that complain.But there are many other letters to my office that express appreciation when long-awaited services get 
addressed with our intervention.Unfortunately villages are always informed when a hen lays ONE egg.But mother fish lays her thousands of 
eggs per day without a sound to the neighbourhood.

The churches can play a role in the reconstruction of South Africa.The prophetic mission of the church cannot remain only at the level of 
criticism.It must go beyond that.The hungry must be fed and the wounded must be healed.Our people are poor and hungry.Their spirits are 
terribly wounded.The church has land which is not producing food.There are buildings that could save the aged and disabled from scorching 
suns and biting rains as they queue for services.The church has professionals who could make an impact in any field of life one can think 
of.>

Another Challenge which the church can deal with is the rise of right wingism within its members.If it is not taken seriously, this could 
lead to our own Bosnia.It is a powder-keg because religion is the very fibre of the human being.Discrimination on the basis of religion is 
prohibited by the Constitution we all fought for as well as by the Equity Bill passed this year by Parliament.Let us not leave God’s flock 
to the whims of populists.

The challenge of HIV/AIDS is posing a real threat to the African continent and particularly to South Africa.There is a real danger that 
generations of our people will be swept out of the face of the earth.But the government is pushing scientists as hard as it can to identify 
a remedy for the scourge.Indeed the whole world is working feverishly through its scientists to defeat the HIV/AIDS.Our people need 
help.But they also need hope.The Church cannot believe that the God of Love will simply wipe out the whole of creation.Neither will God 
stop punishing our sinful ways.Just as scientists were produced that defeated the small pox, polio, etc.God will produce a virologist that 
will save His people from HIV/AIDS.In the meantime we must educate society about HIV/AIDS and how to assist those already affected.

Lastly, the church can assist our people to get to grips with reconciliation and nation-building.We would be naïve to think that the TRC 
has achieved that.Indeed the process has many flaws.Reconciliation is fragile and vulnerable and needs to be nurtured.No institution is 
better placed than the church for this.But the eradication of poverty and the closing of the socio-economic gap are very essential to the 
success of reconciliation.

In 1985, the Kairos Document had this to say: “to develop&#133;&#133;.an alternative biblical and theological model that will in turn lead 
to forms of activity that will make a real difference to the future of our country.”We believe that this task is as urgent to the church 
now as it was then.

The message of love among neighbours can only mean something when it is translated into acts of justice in our lives.For love is the 
reverse side of justice and Human Rights is the end product.The affluent white families belong to the same faith and denominations as the 
Black poor.As such, the church (if we take it in its broader meaning than just leaders and the institution) is well-endowed to make a 
difference in our societies.This cannot depend on getting project funding from the state or being employed by government.Yes, the Church is 
not OF this world.But it is IN this world.Let us work together where we can.Let us talk less this century and do more.

One of the most outstanding features of the Xian faith is belief in the purpose of God for creation.Christians believe that there is a 
divine purpose that directs all reality towards a final goal.The events of history are not arbitrary, but episodes in the unfolding of 
God’s plan.By way of explaining that goal and plan of God and His faithfulness to its fulfillment, Isaiah describes as the “second 
exodus”.God, moved by compassion and righteousness, responded to the cry of the oppressed slaves of Israel in Egypt and led them to freedom 
and an open future.This way Isaiah gives a balanced description of the power and mercy of the only true God. This gives force to Isaiah’s 
proclamation that every power in the universe was obliged, whether knowingly or not, to contribute to God’s redemptive plans (Is 46-55).

But the Scriptures do not pretend that all is always well in the relationship between God and humanity.Sometimes there is transgression on 
our part, there is selfishness, greed and even obstinacy.When such negative situations arise, God punishes us using even other nations to 
mete out his punishment.In the case of the Israelites, he used the Philistines and even the Romans.And the children of Israel became 
captives of other nations. They were oppressed and tortured by the Gentiles.But of course the purpose of God for creation went beyond just 
the Israelites.It is a glorious picture of salvation that reached the furthest corners of the world, even the South African corner of the 
earth. (Is 45:68).But the story of transgression and punishment is not the last word in our relationship to God.

God the Universal Creator, while not yet acknowledged by all as Lord, will, through the faithfulness of His believers be recognised.When 
that happens, the human family will be reunited so as to live in peace as God had intended from the beginning.But this is 
conditional.First, the people of God must be released from sin.>Isaiah is very strong in stressing the importance of the political freedom 
of the Israelite slaves as a component of the fulfillment of the plan of God.But Isaiah stresses the fact that the sinners themselves are 
unable to achieve the spiritual atonement.They need the Servant of the Lord, the one God chose for this task to be accomplished. (53:9-
10).(Sinless though He was,He was crushed by God with pain and death to make His life an offering for sin).

We share the experience of the Jewish exiles in a number of respects. Like them we have gone through unprecedented suffering and 
oppression.In fact, its after-effects are still with us to this day.Just like the Jewish exiles, political change broke upon our lives at a 
rate that startled the world and dazzled many a South African.We are tempted to run for shelter by appealing to the things of old.We are 
admonished to replicate the past.But the Bible warns us as it did to Israel:“Do not remember the former things; or consider the things of 
old.I am about to do a new thing” (43:18-19).

The section of the Bible that is more detailed in dealing with the NEW THING is the New Testament.It is the section that does not only 
remind us of the past.It actually reveals to us what is in store for us in the new dispensation.What we reap when we believe in Jesus as 
the Saviour Son of God. Those who are one with Him in the Spirit are called the children of God. They live a true life that overcomes 
death, as the Crucified Christ overcame it in the Resurrection. This true and full life is not yet fully grasped in its fullness.The fact 
that we are still members of an earthly community limits our grasp of this new life.But the Bible assures us: “we are more than conquerors, 
through Him who loves us.For neither death, nor life, not angels nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor, 
heights, nor depth, nor anything else in ALL CREATION, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 
8:36-39).

Rom 8:16 amplifies this as follows:“Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory God will give us later”.This is a powerful and 
difficult to comprehend type of message.The flesh we are tends to opt for the easier and nihilist message that says: “no amount of future 
glory can undo the moral injustice of communal and individual suffering.But such a message is not in the scheme of things as planned by the 
Almighty God. The end is about victory rather than defeat. Analysed from the heart and understood from daily experience, this message of 
ultimate glory is hard to comprehend. But so was the experience of the exile Jews. Such was the experience of the Disciples of Christ after 
the Trial and Crucifixion of the Lord. They were totally disillusioned.Their enemies gloated and felt victorious.

The Book of Revelation was written under similar circumstances of demotivation and hopelessness.But John does not only say to his readers 
“your distress will not last long, so hang in there,” No. He says instead: your life is part of a story, a story that began before you were 
born; a story that will come to a worthy conclusion.” The Christ who will return is not a newcomer who finally arrives at the end of 
history. He is the one who exercises the kingly power of God. He is present with his churches during their time of trial. He is with his 
people in the historical crises of the world.He guides us through life to the fulfillment of God’s purpose for living.

REV. M.A. STOFILE
PREMIER : EASTERN CAPE

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