Programme Director

Leadership of NICSA

Leadership of the Ethiopian Christian Movement

Leaders from various faith groups

Ladies and gentlemen,

Comrades and friends,

Goeie môre, Molweni! Sawubona! Thobela! Avuxeni! Ndi macheloni! Namaskar!Shalom! Salam Aleikum! Good morning!

I bring you greetings from the the Honourable Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Mr Lechesa Tsenoli.

It is a great pleasure for the Department of Traditional Affairs to be part of this important occasion today, as the faith community, and particularly the African indigenous church, celebrates its formation on our South African shores in the late 19^th century.

Our people found themselves at a precipice - having to choose between practicing their Christian faith within the Eurocentric and discriminatory churches of the time, or forming an alternative faith movement to cater for their Christian faith yet still allow them to fight against the evil systems of colonialism, discrimination, colour-bar and cruelty against people of colour.

That generation of African Christians drew inspiration from the Biblical prophecy in Psalm 68:31 which predicted: “Princes shall come out of Egypt, and Ethiopia (meaning Africa) shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.”

They ardently believed that despite colonisation and oppression, Africa’s sun would dawn.

Ladies and Gentlemen

People may be wondering what the government, of a secular state nogal, is doing at a religious event of this magnitude and nature, or amongst the people of faith who are supposed to be discussing the interaction between the supernatural and the material world.

All should know though, that this is a people’s government, rooted amongst the people, and as such it will be found wherever people are found.

It will be amongst them as they are celebrating or worshipping, and will also be amongst them as they toil and labour for their survival.

It is also because government Ministers and public servants come from the same cultural and religious communities, all in their various classes and levels, each contributing to society according to his or her ability and means.

Many people do not realise that the foundation of our government lies in the womb of religious engagements. It dates back to the late 1890’s, when young intellectuals went abroad to further their studies, sponsored by missionary schools.  They came across the Ethiopian Church in the United States and other countries in the Americas.

The Ethiopian Church was mostly born out of the reawakening of Black Americans and the Caribbean African diaspora in the late 18^th Century. As Dr Mathole Motshekga puts it in his Concept paper on the “Commemoration of the Ethiopian Movement”:

“The African spiritual awakening or revival of the second half of the 18^th Century in North America, and the 19^th century in the Caribbean archipelago, and later in Africa, led by the Wesleyan brothers, gave birth to the spirit of Ethiopianism - meaning African Redemption -  based on Psalm 68:31 which says that ‘Princes shall come out of Egypt and Ethiopia shall again stretch out her hands to God.'

“This philosophy of African Redemption gave rise to the Ethiopian  that is African Church. The term “Ethiopian or African Church” does not refer to a single denomination but a myriad of churches, including the Ethiopian Church of South Africa, Congressional, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Zionist and Apostolic Churches etc. which were formed by the African clergy that broke away from missionary churches because of racism which justified the triple challenge of slavery, colonialism and racism  - later apartheid.”

It was there that networks were formed leading ultimately to the formation of the African National Congress in 1912.

One can read more about the Ethiopian or African Church in South Africa in  Edward Roux’s Time Longer than Rope - (Winston University Press Madison - 1964) which states that:

“It is an interesting fact that the first Bantu mass movement on truly national lines was a religious one. What came to be called Ethiopianism was an attempt on the part of Christian Africans to set up their own churches, independent of the white ones. Though some of these churches were confined to particular areas, others made a nationwide appeal to all Black Christians and tried to unite people of all tribes and nations.

Though outwardly religious, they were also to a large extent political in their appeal. They began as a revolt of black members within the missionary churches. Bantu Christians almost always found that there were colour bars in white churches, even some of the most enthusiastic missionaries insisted upon treating all members of their native folks as children, refusing to ordain them, always putting them in positions where they had to take orders from – white - superiors”

Amongst the early Ethiopian Church of South Africa disciples, one finds our own renowned activists like Charlotte Makgomo Mannya-Maxeke; the Reverend Tile – founder of the Thembu Church; AS Le Fleur of the Griqua Church, Rev Engenas Lekganyane of the St Engenas ZCC; MM Mokone of the Witwatersrand Ethiopian Church and many others, who came together in 1909, in alliance with the traditional leaders, to form the South African National Congress led by Reverend Walter Rubusana.

A year later in 1910, the whites-only Union of South Africa government was established with black people in general, and particularly the Africans, being excluded from the franchise.

It was during this period that the Natal Indian Congress of Mahatma Ghandi -   a Hindu and a human rights lawyer - was already campaigning – with  passive resistance - against discriminatory laws and the pass laws.

The ANC, formed later in 1912, was  also influenced by the Indian Congress Party to start embarking on mass mobilisation and passive resistance.

We all are familiar with our recent history: the African Native National Congress  - ANNC - was formed two years after this development, in 1912, in Bloemfontein. Later, in 1923, the name was changed to the ANC as we know it today.

The new leaders of the ANC were, not surprisingly, the leading intellectuals from the Ethiopian church;  mostly ordained Pastors like Rev Langalibalele Dube, Dr Pixley Isaka Ka Seme, Rev Mahabane, Rev SM Makgatho, George Montsioa, Alfred Mangena, Richard Msimang and many others.

Since 1912 to date, the ANC has always had the office of the Chaplain as part of its national executive committee.

Dr Mathole Motshekga demonstrates the religious, and particularly Christian influence in the early years of the ANC, in the same document cited earlier, when he goes on to say:

“It is significant to note that the ANC was formed in a church in Bloemfontein...Two hymns that dominated the proceedings were Reverend Tiyo Soga’s Fulfil thy promise thee God of the truth (Lizalise idinga lakho Thixo inkosi ye nyaniso” and Enoch Sontonga’s Nkosi Sikele ‘iAfrika with its Sotho version Morena Boloka Sechaba sa Heso by Moses Mphahlele.”

Ladies and Gentlemen,

You have probably been taken through the history of NICSA, which as you now know, was first facilitated by the ANC’s Commission on Religious Affairs, –  which was later renamed Commission on Religious Affairs and Traditional Affairs  - CRATA - as it sought to integrate traditional affairs, including customary leadership, or bogosi.

It was through CRATA’s facilitation and engagement that religious leaders across a wide spectrum of the faith divide ultimately came together to form a united body representative of the faith communities in South Africa, NICSA.

NICSA aims to bring all people of faith together to put their shoulder to the wheel as we engage in the mammoth, sometimes gargantuan task of rebuilding a country that was ruined by apartheid, the balkanisation of a people, divisions and strife.

In undertaking this great work, we must, as a country, by all means at our disposal, avoid internecine strife born out of religion.  This is a danger in  any country as culturally and religiously diverse as ours.

As Minister of the Department of Communications, the Honourable Dr Yunus Carrim said in his address to the Hindu congregation during the Diwali Festival on the 19 October 2013:

“And this is basically the message I bring – that whatever religion you belong to and however you practice it, in the end all religions have the same value. All religions preach the need for us to be good and honest and share with and care for others. All religions emphasise the need for us to subordinate our individual needs to those of a community.

Which is why, ultimately, it makes no sense that people fight and kill over religious differences. Yet it happens. This I think is because religion is often used to settle other conflicts – struggles over resources or influence or political power or other issues. And people are often mobilised by elites or leaders whose interests these religious conflicts mainly serve. Which is not to say that the people who are mobilised do not genuinely think they are serving their religion’s interests by fighting with believers of another religion, but it is the interests of the elites or leaders that are most served by these conflicts.

There is certainly no religion that instructs its believers to attack or kill those who belong to another religion. In fact, it’s against the beliefs of all religions that this happens. Religion is meant to be a force for good, not bad; for patience, not intolerance; for peace, not conflict. And if it can’t be that, it can’t be religious."

If we are good Hindus or good Muslims or good Christians or good Jews or good Buddhists or good practitioners of any other religion, we would, in fact, learn to live well with others. There would be greater harmony and peace and equality in society. There would be the triumph by light over darkness, of good over evil – that is what the Diwali celebrates.”

These sentiments also recall the profound beauty and wisdom of the following passage in the Holy Quran:  “O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise each other).” [Quran 49:13]

Ladies and Gentlemen

The Department of Traditional Affairs is, as you know, a fairly new department established in 2009 by the Honourable President JG Zuma ; partially in pursuit of the injunction by the Constitution to promote, respect and secure the rights of all religious communities to worship as they wish, albeit within the constitutional parameters.

The Department was further established following the Declaration by the United Nations in 2007 to honour and respect the rights of indigenous peoples, particularly their right to practice their cultures, religions and their languages. This was through what has come to be known as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The Department of Traditional Affairs derives its mandate from the Bill of Rights which enjoins “the state to respect, promote and fulfil the rights in the Bill of Rights” and further from Chapter 12 of the Constitution which enjoins the state to recognise the age old indigenous practices and structures of traditional governance and leadership, and to recognise customary laws of people observing such laws or legal systems.

Section 31 of the Constitution in the Bill of Rights goes on to provide that: -

“Persons belonging to a cultural, religious or linguistic community may not be denied the right, with other members of that community – (a) to enjoy their culture, practise their religion and use their language, and (b) to form, join and maintain cultural, religious and linguistic associations and other organs of civil society.”

This is the context within which the Department is involved, and has accepted the invitation to this auspicious occasion.

We believe that the support and promotion of the right to worship, as enshrined in the Constitution, is not only a written or spoken pronouncement, but must be seen to be fulfilled by the state.

The Department, as part of the Executive arm, is the agent of the state to implement, to ensure respect for, promote and fulfil the right to worship and practice one’s cultural and religious rights.

We should note and realize that tradition or culture can never be separated from religion or one’s spirituality and language, your way of dancing, or singing, and so on. They are all intermingled into one.

It is against this background that the President, in 2002, designated the Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs - then known as the  Department of Provincial and Local Government - to administer the Act of Parliament establishing the CRL Rights Commission.

This means that the DTA has to ensure that an administrative capacity has to be made available to support the work of the CRL Rights Commission, to implement the rights which the Commission monitors and lobbies for, which are cultural, religious and linguistic rights.

We are in the process of building the machinery of the Department to respond to the challenge.

We are looking forward to ongoing cooperation between the Department of Traditional Affairs and NICSA.

We look forward to all those faith organisations like the Hindu Maha Sabha Association, the South African Council of Churches, Catholic Bishops Conference, the Tamil Federation, Muslim Council, the Traditional Healers Organisation, the Baha’i, Jah Rastafari, African religious practitioners, the Independent African Indigenous Churches, the Jewish Board, Karaists, and other organs of civil society coming together to enable government to engage with the voice of faith united in its diversity under a single umbrella.

As expressed in the spirit of the Hindu Diwali, we have to come together in our common commitment to fulfilling the “Dharma” – which to the Hindus means the duty to do good, to defeat evil and the forces of darkness.

Let all in the faith movement declare their commitment to combating the scourge of HIV/Aids by campaigning against the stigma associated with the disease, encourage all to test to know their status, and urge young men to get circumcised in hospitals across the country, as part of healthy living and prevention of infection.

We are in the 16 days of activism against women and child abuse. We urge the faith movement to rally behind this call and to preach and teach against gender oppression in your temples, synagogues, shrines, mosques, churches and other places of worship. Let us uproot all forms of gender violence from wherever quarter we find ourselves, and let us use the pulpit as a platform to rail against child and women abuse.

The Battle cry and rallying call is: Interfaith cooperation towards a peaceful, united, non-racial and non-sexist democratic South Africa!

Let Africa’s sun dawn! We wish the African Indigenous Church well as we strive together to rebuild from the shackles of years of apartheid, and to fulfil Chief Albert Luthuli’s prophesy during his acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize that: “This is Africa’s age – the dawn of her fulfilment, yes the moment when she must grapple with destiny to reach the summits of sublimity saying – “ours was a fight for noble values and worthy ends, and not for lands and the enslavement of man.”

May God Bless Africa, Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika – Morena Boloka Setjhaba sa heso!

Kgotso a e be le rena rohle!

I thank you all.