Church and state collide at Kennedy road

Something wonderful took place in Durban/eThekwini on Wednesday 18 November.

Continuing a tradition well over 50 years old in South Africa, the Church spoke truth to power.

The point is: that power was no longer the party/state governed by the National Party but the party/state governed by the African National Congress, its successfor. This is the only difference, but it has great implications for the present and the future.

True, the ANC won three by-elections in KwaZulu-Natal the same day from the Inkatha Freedom Party, consolidating its position as the principal repository of the vote among isiZulu-speakers.

But in the provincial capital of KwaZulu-Natal, the political authority of the state - as represented by the courts, the police and the governing political apparatus - was confronted outside Durban Magistrate's Court by a far older and universal authority, the authority of Christian conscience.

At the time of writing, there are still no readers' comments at the foot of the publication on Politicsweb of the Order of Service held outside the court, when 13 members of the shackdwellers organisation, Abahlali baseMjondolo, appeared before a magistrate.

More than six weeks after an armed pogrom mob burst in upon them, killed four, wrecked homes, seized property and threw hundreds into flight - when all the while the police stood idly by, presenting themselves only after the event to seize innocent victims of the party/state - it is still too early for most people to recognise what is happening in the society.

Firstly, operating with what it perceives to be total impunity, the party/state acted with lethal violence at Kennedy Road in Durban through its auxiliairies, in defiance of law and constitution and the moral law.

Secondly, its constitutional instruments - the police, the prosecutorial service - then acted to conceal a crime of first degree through recourse to the forms of law and constitution, by arraigning the victims.

Thirdly, this act of despotism and abuse of law and constitution was then confronted yesterday outside Pilate's seat by the Christian conscience, spoken by spiritual authority of the diocese of Natal of the Church of the Province of South Africa, in association with representatives of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Southern Africa, and carrying with it the spiritual and moral authority of the Catholic Bishops' conference and the South African Council of Churches.

Church made representation to State.

State, as so often before in the political history of South Africa, declined the voice of Church. Church, represented in living memory most powerfully by the witness of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, then summoned up the deep well of Christian moral conscience in the society - and well beyond that - in holding unaccountable State to account.

The statement issued immediately after the latest court hearing by Bishop Rubin Phillip, the most senior voice of the Anglican Church in KwaZulu-Natal and chairperson of the KwaZulu Natal Christian Council, continues in that magnificent tradition. It speaks across race, class, party, tribe, religion and all forms of division in a society increasingly fragmented, demoralised by greed and the lust for power - as Bishop Phillip says, "in the moral wilderness of a country that is losing its way".

This is moral witness in a heritage that reaches back beyond the Revd W S Gawe (tried for treason), Archbishop Trevor Huddleston, Bishop Ambrose Reeves (author, Shooting at Sharpeville, 1960), Archbishop Joost de Blank and Cardinal Owen McCann (former Catholic Archbishop of Cape Town), to the very formation of the Native National Congress by Revd Walter Rubusana and  Revd John Langalibalele Dube and others in 1912, and to the outrage in the mid-19th century of Sobantu (Bishop John William Colenso, the first Anglican Bishop of Natal) at the state's trampling on the lives of human beings.

Bishop Phillip, Bishop Barry Wood (chairperson of the Diakonia Council of Churches), Revd Sikhumbuzo Goge (Evangelical Lutheran Church of Southern Africa) and over 30 other members of clergy who were present at the court are deeply conscious of their place in this heritage in South Africa, just as they are conscious of the Christian outrage at massacre and human rights abuses in Zimbabwe of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace.

From its own history, the ANC and its government and provincial authorities should know that no power, in the end, withstands this authority of conscience in South Africa. It may take a long time. Innocent blood might flow like water.

Yet, while the holders of a little brief authority might engrave the features and the methods of their predecessors upon their own tenure of office, the end has already begun for their reign of abuse when a voice like that of Bishop Phillip arises against them.

There should be all support for Bishop Phillip's call for the "immediate release of the Kennedy Thirteen from prison, on the grounds that justice has been delayed far beyond the point at which it was clear that it had been denied."

Further, "in light of the fact that this is quite clearly a political trial in which the rules that govern the practice of justice are not being followed", there should be support for his call "for people of conscience outside of the state" to join him and his colleagues in setting up "an independent inquiry into the attack on Kennedy Road on 26 September; the subsequent demolition of the houses of Abahlali baseMjondolo members, the ongoing threats to Abahlali baseMjondolo members, [and] the role of the police, politicians and courts in this matter."

This is an historic moment.

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Politicsweb racists I'm not surprised most Politics web readers don't bother to comment on such things, being mostly white racists with big chips on their shoulders and bigger NIMBY attitudes. When the state starts beating up and abusing black people it's not a problem, . .more actually the state's job as far as they are concerned. Whatch what happens when the cops turn on some whities. It might even make the papers. . .less by Red_as_fuc on November 20 2009, 10:35 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Politicsweb racists @red: really, and how do you know most readers are white? perhaps whites dont have much to say as they are tired of being labelled racist after each comment? had something been said by a 'white' reader on the subject which you did not agree with, would . .more you have respected the view or merely labelled them racist as you have done above? . .less by socialist agenda on November 20 2009, 12:54 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

The criminal State It is perfectly in character of the ANC to act in the despicable manner in evidence in the Kennedy Road saga. Since so few, if any, "Black" readers of PoliticsWeb have commented adversely on the matter, can we assume that blacks, the majority of . .more whom voted for the ANC, condone such savagery? I cannot fathom the mentality of Red_as_fuc; why should this be a race thing? His/her comment is as stupid as that of those luminaries who accuse whites of racism because they are so scarce at soccer matches. . .less by mpho on November 20 2009, 15:04 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Politicsweb racists @ socialist agenda Hmm, ja you're right I don'y have readership data re: race. But if you doubt that the bulk of comments on this website are posted by examples of the ultra verkrampte brigade you're obviously new here. by Red_as_fuc on November 20 2009, 15:45 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Red_as_fuc = Malema = Manyi = ANCYL etc I have been called a racist often, and am proud of it. As soon as somebody calls you a racist, he is admitting to having utterly lost an argument. Think Chuene, Manyi, Malema etc. So by all means, Red_as_fuc, bring it on. As far as the Kennedy . .more Road people go - I bet the same victims vote for the ANC regime in election after election. People get the government they deserve. If you are too thick to stop voting for the ANC regime, perhaps you deserve to get whacked. . .less by Afrikaner on November 20 2009, 18:11 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@ Afrikaner Not true. The problem for the ANC in Durban at the last election was that the slogan of Abahlali baseMjondolo was*No land, no house, no vote*. The Kennedy Road people got whacked because they DIDN'T vote ANC. That's a different picture . .more altogether. . .less by Paul Trewhela on November 20 2009, 18:19 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Lessons taught to the ANC by Mugabe? This seems to be the implication of Paul Trewhela's post. No wonder Mugabe and Mbeki were always holding hands, and Jacob's body language was also not that distant. by mpho on November 20 2009, 21:29 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Church and State collide There is a lot of mumbling on this page without substance.Blaming this Government for manufactured crimes.People will be arrested for committing crimes. We must not just assume things here and blame the ANC for actions of individuals. The ANC will not . .more support vigilantism.Never! You will see how things evolve as the case is followed up by the courts.This is not Zimbabwe as all of you wish to depict our country to be.Just creating a hallabaloo of excitement out of what is being dealt with will never stick. You are irresponsible! 400 years of white rule and apartheid never benefitted even the whites who voted for and supported it.We now want to picture one incident as a national norm against the ANC? You will fail! The ANC is catering for 100% of the Nation ( 80 Million) against the National Party's catering for 13% of the white Population. It is managing in my own Book! Did you manage then for all? . .less by Blackman on November 21 2009, 14:34 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Blackman 80 million? You must be thinking of China my china. As for catering for 100% of the nation. Not from what I see on TV and read in the various media. Catering for 100% of their leading cadres you must mean, at 5 star hotels to boot. by Jeff on November 21 2009, 19:33 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Red_as_fuc You are right of course; whites are always keen to see such ubuntu in action, it gives us an insight as to why Africa is such a failure. Nice to see it happening here in SA. Not to mention the ongoing xenophobia ."Oh, the humanity!" Red_as-fuc? Fucd_ . .more in _the _head more like. . .less by Jeff on November 21 2009, 19:38 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Blackman You claim : "400 years of white rule and apartheid never benefitted even the whites who voted for and supported it." Gosh! And all this time the ANC's view was that Whites benefited more than blacks under apartheid, and hence the "need" . .more for AA, EE, BEE, BBEE, BBBEE, cadre deployment and all the other racist C*** the ANC is forcing down our throats. But, think again......all those whites who lived under and supported apartheid and died before 1994; you mean to say they never benefited from apartheid? You also claim the ANC is catering for 100% of the population. You are obviously not a white, coloured or an "Indian". The whites are being screwed big time, that's how they are being "catered" for. And Coloureds and Indians are not "black" enough to qualify for the same benefits from AA, EE, BEE, BBEE and BBBEE. I know this from personal experience. Having a "Coloured" as an equity partner does not carry the same weight as having an ethnic black African as equity partner for the purpose of racist patronage. And look....here we are after 15 years of ANC rule, still talking about each other as Blacks, Coloureds, Indians and Whites! This makes my blod boil! Clearly, the ANC is basically a black racist gemors, with a smattering of co-opted coloureds and Indians in its ranks. It carries with it an awful racist stink! . .less by mpho on November 21 2009, 21:56 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

No land,no house,no vote IT will always be immoral when state organs are used to settle political score .Political dissent is accepted in civillised society hence the state should be very careful when it turns weapons on innocent people who have the right to protest.Again it does . .more not make sense when rogue elements of the ruling party portray the act as legitimate and play gutter politics such as the race card.The state has made its intention clear by having a MINISTER OF POLICE AND MILITARISE RANKS IN THE POLICE.Nobody in civil society has questioned why?Even the attitude of the minister and the deputy has not been questioned when addressing the nation on security matters.We may be getting to the point of "DO AS I SAY".But please respect the people of the country if you want to rule because we have seen Kwame Nkrumah,Idi Ami ,Mobutu and their subsequent decline more over the National Party of south africa.Dont ever underestimate South Africans. . .less by JOE on November 22 2009, 07:53 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

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