Those who regard God as a dainty aesthete to whom politics is a subject too crass for his notice were outraged — just a few months ago — by the invocation of biblical metaphors in the politics of the ANC.
But their silence at or even enthusiasm for former cleric Mvume Dandala’s entrance into politics betrays their double standards. The Congress of the People (Cope) has upped the ante in the game of politics and its relationship with religion. It has not merely conjured up Christian metaphors, but has, like the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), fielded as its presidential candidate a former member of the clergy.
Though Cope’s choice seems to have been influenced by Dandala’s moral standing and the appeal he might have for the ”moral majority” in a country reportedly 80% Christian, taking on the ANC and Jacob Zuma on this front may be a bad miscalculation. The ACDP’s Kenneth Meshoe has been down this road and the ”moral majority” has constantly disappointed him at the polls.
The ANC has a rich Judeo-Christian tradition. According to this belief system, the prophet has always taken a dim view of the existing civilization, denounced injustices and sought to recover a sense of life and of the spiritual in society. Cope hopes Dandala might well do that for South Africa, but there have been others before him.
The founding fathers of the ANC were certainly influenced by the Judeo-Christian tradition though they made it relevant to the context of the oppressed. The ANC’s founding president, Dr John Langalibalele Dube, was a priest whose Christian morality inspired him to speak truth to power and seek to rectify the racial inequalities of the then nascent civilization.
There were others such as Reverend Henry Reed Ngcayiya, the first chaplain general of the ANC, and Charlotte Maxeke, a former lay preacher in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, who were among the founders of the ANC. Then came the likes of Reverend ZR Mahabane, the third president of the ANC, founder of the United Native Congress Church, Sefako M Makgatho, who became the ANC’s president in 1917, and Chief Albert Luthuli, who was a preacher in the United Congregational Church.
Oliver Tambo, his biographer Luli Callinicos tells us, once harboured hopes of becoming an ordained minister. Canon Collins of St Paul’s Cathedral in London and founder of Christian Action once described Tambo as a personality with a ”truly Christian spirit”.
There is no doubt that the Judeo-Christian narrative has influenced the ANC’s political outlook. It was some of its leaders’ prophetic theology that established and built an ANC that spoke about God from the perspective of the poor, the oppressed and the indigenous peoples of South Africa.
The historical association of the ANC and the Christian church in general, including the latter’s metaphors, songs and imagery, is well established. It is an association that did not opportunistically start just before an election. And this is where Cope might get severely punished — it has a very casual and dismissive attitude to people’s sense of history. Maybe it has no choice but to behave that way. It is a new party, after all.
The second reason Cope might regret its strategy is that the ANC is miles ahead on the religious front. Towards the end of 2008, Zuma met religious leaders from different faith communities in Kempton Park. The ANC is not called a ”broad church” for no reason. Those religious leaders raised a number of moral and other issues which Zuma undertook to address. There was a pact of sorts made at that meeting.
But it wasn’t the first meeting of its kind. Long before electioneering started, Zuma had criss-crossed the country to visit several religious formations. One religious coalition even ordained him a pastor. Many laughed at that but the crafty politician was at work and he is about to see the fruit of his labour.
The third reason Cope’s strategy might backfire is that Dandala is associated with a particular denomination, which — with respect — is experiencing what most mainline churches are going through: a declining or static membership. The numbers are with African indigenous, evangelical, Pentecostal and charismatic churches. Zuma has visited all these types of churches. His strategists know better.
Vusi Mona is deputy administrator and spokesperson of Rhema. He writes in his personal capacity