Relations between the ruling party and religious leaders strained over arms deal and what action to take on HIV/Aids
Jaspreet Kindra
President Thabo Mbeki has joined the chorus of African National Congress criticism of church leaders, suggesting that they have abandoned the common struggle against the legacy of apartheid.
And in a further salvo in the battle, the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has attacked as “satanic and evil” a speech in Durban this week by South African Council of Churches (SACC) general secretary Molefe Tsele entitled: “The Church must once again become a nuisance to the nation.”
Mbeki, in his weekly column on the ANC website, says: “Religious faiths … had some difficulty in determining what their role would be in the aftermath of the common victory over the apartheid regime.
“Rightly or wrongly, the perception emerged that the religious communities had come to the conclusion that the end of white minority rule had also brought to an end their own obligation to be involved in the continuing struggle to address the terrible legacy of the political and social system against which they had struggled.”
Mbeki makes the aside in birthday greetings to former Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town Desmond Tutu, whom he includes among “patriots and religious leaders” who have maintained a tradition of struggle.
Relations between the ANC and church leaders, particularly Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, have been strained by strong church criticism of government’s policies on HIV/Aids, the economy and the arms procurement package.
In an apparent attempt to woo church adversaries, a high-level government delegation led by the ANC national chair and Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota, and Minister of Public Enterprises Jeff Radebe, met SACC representatives last Friday to address their concerns over the R43-billion arms deal.
In a memorandum presented to Lekota, the SACC urged the government to “consider seriously the complete abandonment of the [arms] deal”. It acknowledged the government’s “justifiable concern that the termination of the contracts might prejudice future business transactions” but added: “We believe that this risk must be set against the potential domestic social and political consequences if the arms deal ultimately inhibits the government’s ability to deliver improved conditions for South Africa’s poorest households.”
At a recent national conference the SACC also decided to continue lobbying the government for the supply of free anti-retroviral drugs to people with HIV/Aids, including nevirapine for all pregnant mothers and their newborns.
The council also decided to adopt an attitude of “critical engagement in its dealings with the state and other organs of civil society”.
In a furious response to SACC leader Tsele’s “pseudo-religious” speech, the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal described as “satanic and evil” his statement that the churches’ major contribution should be to save Mbeki from a battle he could not win.
Referring to Tsele’s criticisms of the government policies on HIV/Aids, it says his statement “confirms the widely held view that some elements within the church are little more than sales agents of the pharmaceutical industry”.
Tsele’s speech emphasises the need for the churches to remain independent of the government. He says: “We must run away from an incestuous co-habitation with government, for to do so will be suicide to our mission as a church. We will cease to exist as an autonomous entity.
“To be in alliance with a persecuted political movement is one thing, but to become its ally in government is another. The problem for South Africa is that government tends to see non-support as opposition, and even such opposition is construed in such terms that make ‘anyone who is not with us is against us’ dichotomy.”
He adds that the ruling party “in particular tends to instrumentalise the Church. The Church is generally seen as a nuisance that must be appeased by handouts. I often get hot under the shoulder when I see Church leaders treating political leaders like African royalty, sometimes even interrupting a church service because the premier or a Cabinet minister has arrived.”
Tsele, while pointing out some politicians’ disrespect for churches, cites Minister of Education Kader Asmal’s “attack on churches” early this year, which was “not easily forgotten by many Christians”. Asmal described Christians attending a 50000-strong prayer rally at the Newlands rugby stadium in Cape Town as “sectarian, divisive and non-inclusive”. He subsequently apologised for his remarks. Tsele asks: “Are we useful tools for the ANC agenda of ascendancy to power, remembered only when needed, or do we have our agenda?”
The SACC’s position will be determined by issues, Tsele says. It will continue to demand free anti-retroviral drugs for HIV/Aids infected mothers and newborns and oppose the government’s macro-economic policy “which in reality is nothing more than a home-brewed World Bank-style structural adjustment programme policy No matter how many times Minister [Trevor] Manuel can try to redress [the government’s growth, employment and redistribution strategy] Gear, no matter how many spins he gives to it, the reality is that it is an anti-poor policy and certainly a reversal of the [reconstruction and development programme].”
Tsele also remarks about Mbeki’s role and impact in the promotion of the African agenda: “The question is whether he is the kind of pilot to whom we can sit back, relax and entrust ourselves to his capabilities that we will have a soft albeit bumpy landing? Will we land at all, or are we on a voyage to nowhere?”
He concludes that the Church cannot ignore the debate, “because the legacy of Mbeki is as real as the reality of the new South Africa”.