Latest news with #MzwandileMolo
IOL News
31-07-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Faith and accountability: the Church's stand against corruption in South Africa
While the South African Council of Churches has welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa's announcement that churches,mosques and synagogues may resume under Level 3, most South Africans took to social media to weigh in on the matter. The South African Council of Churches held a Church Leaders Anti-Corruption Conference Image: File In a powerful declaration of faith and accountability, the South African Council of Churches (SACC) has made clear that the time for silence is over. Church leaders from across the country gathered this week for the Church Leaders Anti-Corruption Conference, a spirited and solemn call to action in defence of truth, justice and public integrity. 'The Church is called to serve not only as a moral witness but as a prophetic voice; unafraid to speak uncomfortable truths in pursuit of institutional and societal integrity,' said Reverend Mzwandile Molo, the General Secretary of the SACC. 'This prophetic task is not optional; it is fundamental to the Church's identity. The ministry of Jesus has always stood in opposition to injustice and exploitation. Today, that mantle falls squarely on the Church in South Africa.' Held against the backdrop of mounting public frustration over corruption and a weakening of democratic values, the gathering brought together clergy, theologians, whistleblower advocates, civil society leaders and former public servants. With honesty and urgency, participants laid bare the ongoing devastation caused by graft and state dysfunction. The conference reaffirmed the SACC's position: corruption is more than a legal infraction or political inconvenience. It is a spiritual crisis. A betrayal not only of public trust, but of the very soul of the nation. Speakers reflected on the lived reality of communities battered by poor service delivery, failing municipalities and long-standing impunity. The water crisis in Makhanda was cited as just one symptom of a deeper malaise where governance has collapsed and public officials act without consequence. 'For the Church, which journeys alongside affected communities, the call to action is sacred,' said Molo. It was a day of reckoning, but also of resolve. From the pulpit to the pews, church leaders pledged to move beyond condemnation, to lead with courage and humility and to examine their own house. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. 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Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ Importantly, the private sector was not spared scrutiny. Attendees emphasised that businesses are too often complicit, not merely passive bystanders but active participants and beneficiaries of corrupt systems. It was a reminder that tackling corruption requires a whole-of-society response. A deeply moving moment came as the conference acknowledged the bravery of whistleblowers who risk their safety and livelihoods to expose the truth. Their defence, said the SACC, is 'non-negotiable.' In a symbolic gesture of commitment, the SACC will soon adopt the Church Leader's Covenant Against Corruption, a declaration to God and nation that church leaders will stand firmly against all forms of dishonesty and exploitation. Still being finalised, the covenant will call for: - Preaching and teaching consistently against corruption, especially through youth and children's ministries. - Honouring and protecting whistleblowers within church spaces. - Encouraging ethical leadership in public and private sectors. - Strengthening oversight institutions, including Chapter 9 bodies. - Ensuring transparency in church governance. - Helping to lead a national movement that leaves no room for corruption in politics, business, faith communities or society at large 'We take heart and have courage for the road ahead,' the SACC declared. 'Placing our hope in the Lord, the God of justice who has assured us of His presence to the very end,' Molo said. Weekend Argus
Mail & Guardian
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Mail & Guardian
Christian Palestinian churches applaud World Council of Churches for its resolutions condemning Israel over Gaza
Gaza has been destroyed following continued strikes by Israel. (X) The central committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) has been commended for its recent statement denouncing Israel for what it called a system of apartheid imposed on Palestinians 'in violation of international law and moral conscience'. At its 18 to 24 June meeting in Johannesburg the WCC, which represents more than 600 million people in 110 countries, issued a statement urging governments, institutions and churches to speak with 'clarity, urgency, and commitment to the principles of justice under international law and ethics' and to mobilise against Israel, calling for sanctions, disinvestment and a comprehensive arms embargo. The WCC commended the South African government for Kairos Palestine, an organisation of Palestinian Christians, applauded the WCC's resolutions as an acknowledgement of seven decades of 'systematic oppression, displacement, segregation, and denial of basic human rights' endured by Palestinians. The 'If there are any experts on apartheid in the world, it is us, so when we say it is apartheid, you have got to believe us,' SACC general secretary Reverend Mzwandile Molo said, describing Israel's treatment of Palestinians as worse than apartheid in South Africa. 'We were never under military rule. Ultimately I was still a civilian in the eyes of the courts. In the occupied territories you are treated as if you are under military occupation,' he said. The WCC's central committee has taken a step in the right direction, said Moravian theologian and former director of the National Research Foundation Robert Kriger. While in exile in Germany, Kriger was active in an ecumenical anti-apartheid group, Pro Ökumene, which supported the WCC's programme to combat racism (PCR) in the 1970s through the 1980s, at a time when there was widespread antagonism, especially among Western mainline churches, towards the ecumenical body. The WCC's work at the time revolved around the PCR, to the point where apartheid was declared a confessional crisis in the Lutheran family and religious leaders such as Alan Boesak — speaking for the black reformed churches and as president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches — publicly called the system a heresy. A special fund was established, with $200 000 initially taken from WCC reserves, to fund anti-apartheid political groups for humanitarian purposes. 'All hell broke loose,' Kriger recalls, with Western and South African media proclaiming: 'Churches fund terrorism.' There will probably be 'much similarity with what the WCC is going to face now with its statement on Palestine', Kriger said. Molo echoed this, adding that there might be pressure on some to backtrack. 'This is what happened with the PCR in South Africa and for some of us this moment is as monumental as that was,' Molo said. There is no doubt that a major shift has taken place in WCC public policy, said Stiaan van der Merwe, a Christian activist involved with a nascent initiative called South African Christians for Palestine. But he added: 'There are questions that still need consideration in relation to the WCC and the wording and content of the resolutions.' South African Christians for Palestine held a vigil with support from members of South African Jews for Palestine (SAJFP) outside the venue where the WCC central committee's deliberations took place last month. SAJFP member Rina King said the mood was tense and uncertain until Van der Merwe came out and told the vigil keepers that the resolution had been passed. 'We cried and danced around,' King recalled. 'What a victory for humanity and international law.' While South African Jews for Palestine has come out in strong support of the WCC central committee, the resolutions will probably get a hostile response from the predominantly conservative broader South African Jewish community. 'I expect they will say the WCC is funded by Iran,' said Molo, referring to the standard line taken by South Africa's chief rabbi, Warren Goldstein, who has referred to the government's case at the ICJ as the 'diplomatic equivalent' of the Hamas attack on Israeli civilians in October 2023 which triggered the current war on Gaza. Goldstein did not respond to a request for comment. Meanwhile, United States authorities arrested and interrogated Pastor Khader El-Yateem,an adviser to the WCC central committee and executive director of Justice and Services at the Evangelical Lutheran Council of America, on his return from the Johannesburg conference. Relations between South African and President Donald Trump's administration have been tense recently over Pretoria's stance against Israel, of which the US is a staunch ally. '[It is a] dark moment in the US, but in this dark moment there are possibilities of regeneration. Thousands are marching for justice and the pendulum has swung so far into the very worst that Americans can be that they can no longer depend on their exceptionalism,' Molo said. 'The moral bankruptcy of the Israeli state is obvious. To defend it you have to either lie to yourself or to be willfully blind. Let me be frank, the greatest struggle for this work is not in South Africa; it is not even in Europe. We must all supplement, but the greatest struggle is in America. 'Palestine is almost a definer of our moral choices and of whom we want to become as a common humanity, and that is why it is so important. It is almost becoming emblematic of the fight for a common vision of what we can be and should be,' Molo added. He said there was a need to connect the Palestinian struggle to the struggles of many African people, some of whom were facing their own genocides in their countries. 'If we are not able to connect those struggles we are going to lose our African brothers and sisters. Our commitment is to universalised human dignity,' Molo said He said South Africa's experience of inter-religious dialogue could be offered as 'a gift to help people find each other rather than as a judge' in countries such as Nigeria, where there is conflict between the Islamic and Christian faiths.
