Did we really say sorry?

I would highly recommend Alexander Venter and Trevor Ntlhola’s book “doing Reconciliation” on this topic. In Chapter 4 they discuss “Facing our Apartheid history.”

They note the following on “saying sorry”,

“How did the churches respond to the TRC? In June 1997 a handful ecumenical and evangelical leaders, including a few respected Afrikaners, sent an Open Letter to 12 000 pastors and leaders of Christian organizations in SA. It was a general letter of confession for pastors and churches to acknowledge their failure during the apartheid era. Only 610 signed and returned it, and this was submitted to the TRC on 15 November 1997. This poor response must be put into context. Thirty four official submissions were made to the TRC by denominations and Christian organizations, many obviously speaking for thousands of individual pastors and congregations. This must in turn be seen against the backdrop of the 1800 church denominations in SA, excluding Christian organisations. The church’s response was disappointing.p.119

A future for South Africa – reading Emmanuel Katongole’s book

Emmanuel Katongole, Introduction and Chapter 1 …

I’m currently in the United States and just arrived in San Antonio for a Renovare conference. This is my first time in Texas (outside of an airport) and I can tell you that it’s hot here! 

Nevertheless, I’m currently reading a fantastic book entitled “A future for Africa” by Emmanuel Katongole. [It would be great to start a group that interacts on the content of this book - drop me a note if you're interested]

The book consists of essays by Emmanuel.  He is an Ugandan who currently teaches at Duke.  In the book’s introduction he talks about the challenge of developing a social ethic that is descriptive before it becomes prescriptive.  Or to use a computer analogy … before you download funky applications you need to understand the operating system.  You cannot load Mac software onto a PC (though you can load PC software on a Mac, but I digress).

He contends that a lot of ethics in Africa aim at telling Africans what to do, he states that, “by focusing on recommendations, Christian ethics does not fully and critically engage the reality of politics in Africa, especially the fact that politics involves the formation of identities.  A preoccupation with prescriptions does not, therefore, highlight the specific type of identities formed within post-colonial politics.”

The problems in Africa, therefore does not garner quick fixes, because they, “are wired within the imaginative landscape of Africa”p.xi.  These landscapes are wired into our collective memories and are embodied in our daily rhythms.  Because it runs in the background of society, these scripts (or operating systems) are taken for granted and it is precisely this memory that has to be discovered and “unlearned”p.23.

In Chapter 1 cleverly titled , “Remembering Idi Amin: On Violence, Ethics and social memory in Africa” – Katongole explore the importance of memory.  This memory include historical facts but is much more than just the factual.  The task of memory,

“ … is in fact a conversation about the present.  It involves taking a closer look at who we are in the present – our current responses, reactions, and patterns of life – and trying to situate that within a narrative of social/political history” p.19

Here are some of my thoughts on this …

-    It is disconcerting to me how fast white South Africans want to move past the memories of Apartheid.  This kind of amnesia that is prevalent in the talk of the beneficiaries of oppression serves a particular agenda; to keep the status quo. 
-    This task of remembering is very urgent given, “the current modes of social ethic, most of which is involves a calculated forgetfulness of the past and a naïve optimism and invitation to “move on.”p.21.
-    Though Katongole urges us to move beyond factual memories, I think most white South Africans haven’t explored the memories of our country.  Therefore, I would propose that any church should strongly encourage their membership to explore our country’s history.  Visit the Apartheid museum, talk to the previous perpetrators of Apartheid, talk to the victims, read on people who resisted (Tutu, Beyers Naude, Biko), repent, forgive, reconcile [remembering that prescriptive actions like that last sentence should follow descriptive exploration].
-     Personally I’m thinking that at Claypot, membership should be dependent upon a process of remembering.
-    Katongole states that one of the reasons we need to remember is that the oppressed who are liberated can easily become just like the oppressors.  That’s why God continually tells Israel to remember their slavery and by implications their taskmasters.  When we forget we become what we despised.  For white South Africans this can pertain to our accusatory stance towards our parents – if we only show a finger the chances are that we will make the same kind of mistakes.

“ … unless we are, as individuals and as communities, able to examine our present patterns of life and choices, and locate them within a comprehensive narrative of social history, we are neither able to understand who we are in the present nor clearly able to see the alternatives that might be available to us.  Only by confronting the past, which still somehow lives on in the present, are we able to envision or imagine meaningful and viable alternatives for the future.” p.7

 

Who will benefit from moving on already?

`Forgiveness’ is a word that easily trips off our tongues, especially if we are not the victims of oppression and injustice. It is easy for us who are not victims to tell them to forgive their enemies; it is also relatively easy for oppressors to ask for forgiveness. The problem is that forgiveness can be manipulated by the dominant in such a way that it strengthens their position and weakens that of the victim. Forgiveness thus becomes a tool in the manipulation of power relations, making the oppressed even more a victim of injustice.  John de Grunchy

The keys to what?

Wednesday evening was special. A group of friends from the Diepsloot squatter camp drove to the suburbs to be with us. We had a vey good time together. Together we decided to do questions and answers. Claypot asked a question followed by an answer from Diepsloot and then a question from Diepsloot was followed by an answer from the Pot. It was fun and we all learnt a lot.

Eddie and I were censored (for we talk a lot) even though Eddie cleverly sneaked in a question by posing as a Claypot member – he asked “As a Claypot member I would like to know why you would like to fellowship with us?” We all had a good laugh at his subversive tactics.

The answer to Eddie’s question left me with an intense struggle for the last few days. One of the answers was the following, “We like to fellowship with you because you have the keys to prosperity”.

Now first of all in this sentence the word prosperity has to be deconstructed. It is not prosperity in the sense of a second and third car, an extra vacation house or other aspects that we in the suburbs would define as prosperous. For this person it means the basics needed to survive. And for him we had the keys towards this and we could teach him to also open the future with these keys.

It’s hard for me to verbalize why I feel uneasy being placed in this position. What I do know is that Jesus gave his original disciples the ‘keys to the kingdom’ not the ‘keys to prosperity’. This whole incident reminds me of Kierkegaard’s quip that,

Gold and silver I do not have, but I give you what I have; stand up and walk,” said Peter. Later on the clergy were saying: Gold and silver we have – but we have nothing to give. Provocations (free e-book) p.226

For this dear brother our fellowship could help him to get access to ‘gold and silver’. And please understand me; I do believe that there is a place for economic restitution and education in the post-Apartheid South African church. It’s just that this statement shocked me into the reality of how poor the white church has become if we are only viewed as those who ‘have the keys towards prosperity”.

Sunday Time’s cartoon

‘Saying’ sorry and ‘being’ sorry

For the past few days I’ve thought intensely about the difference between a verbal commitment to reconciliation – saying that you’re sorry and a physical commitment to reconciliation – being sorry.  Alexander Venter in his book “Doing Reconciliation” quotes Rev. Mxolisi Mpambani :

There were two boys living opposite each other.  John stole a bicycle from Tom and then after a year John came to Tom and said, “Tom, I stole your bicycle and what I need now is reconciliation.” Then Tom looked at John and said: “Where is my bicycle?” He said: “No, I am not talking about your bicycle now, I am talking about reconciliation.”

I’m wondering how you would respond to this specific conversation?

blindspot checking 101

My idea is definitely not to preach, blame or teach anyone anything in this space. As a 31 year old Afrikaner I am currently a ‘victim’ of affirmative action and this situation is forcing me to evaluate and rethink my assumptions and theories about post-apartheid South Africa. As Afrikaners we normally don’t even like referring to something like post-apartheid South Africa, we simply want to talk about South Africa, moving on, forgiving and forgetting! But as the beneficiaries of the apartheid regime we are not morally or logically afforded the luxury to determine when it is time to ‘move on’. As I think about the situation, and try to imagine myself in the shoes of non-Afrikaners, I realize that it will take a very long time for the wrongs of apartheid to be put right.

Consequently, if I have to pay for the sins of my father and grand-father, so be it. Justice is not limited to individual cases, but pertains to era, race, geography, economics etc. The ‘I never voted under apartheid’ excuse simply do not cut it, because our new young post-apartheid Afrikaners are clever enough to make all our excuses and complaints on laptops, in our nice houses as a result of the privileged upbringings we had. Personally, I know that my refusal and resistance to engage with ‘the new South Africa’ was partly due to a lack of consciousness about the reality of ‘the old South Africa’.

These thought are relevant for all Afrikaners, but if you are on of the 90% of Afrikaners claiming to be a Christian and actually think that means following the philosophy and example of Jesus, then post-apartheid South Africa presents an exciting platform for a life of unselfish love and service. I’m discovering that when I am self-focussed, materialistic and negative South Africa is not a fun place and Australia and the USA calls me with charm. Yet, I like to call myself and other Afrikaners ‘African’, despite the whiteness of our skins. However, if I consider the rates of whites running away from Africa to the greener economic pastures of England or Australia, I wonder if we are really as African as we profess.

In the Anglo Boer war we spoke of bittereinders and hensoppers, today I’m wondering “where is the loyalty?” ans what happened that Afrikaners have grown such an appetite for running away and being hensoppers? Why not stay? And if we stay, lets not stay secluded in our white suburbs, white companies, luxury malls, expensive holidays- let’s engage with the real South Africa, becoming part of the solution- not the complaining choir! I’m getting sick of myself and my Afrikaner friends always complaining about the same things, but not willing to say sorry and make restitution by using our enormous wealth and other resources to make a difference!

The beginning of a journey

For the next few weeks a few of us will dream about this site and the real-life journey it represents. What does it mean to live in South Africa as a generation that benefited from apartheid? What is our responsibility as followers of Christ in regard to this question? This site will inevitably draw people who are either excited about the subject or those who feel that it’s an absolute waste of time …