South Africa

It is Tuesday, August 12, and the leaders of the political parties are still locked in talks of power sharing -- it was expected that a deal would be struck on Sunday, but to no avail, so the talks continue. Most of us are still digesting and coming to terms with the content of the proposed new deal -- some parts are hard to swallow, but I think the model of power-sharing being used by chief mediator Thabo Mbeki is modeled on the South African experience.

If you can recall, [...]

I have heard that the Chinese symbol for crisis means both danger and opportunity. The political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe and the crisis brought by xenophobic violence in South Africa present both danger and opportunity. 

For many citizens from both countries, the crisis has become an opportunity to express their values of compassion and generosity.  In the past week, there has been an outpouring of aid from many local citizens in the form of provision of [...]

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

- William Butler Yeats, from his poem, "The Second Coming"

When I listen to stories of victims of the [...]

This week has been marred by xenophobic violence in Alexandra Township, Johannesburg, South Africa. The violent attacks targeted foreign nationals whom locals accuse of being responsible for crime, job loss, "taking their girlfriends," and other social problems. The violence meted on foreigners included murder, robbery, looting, rape, and violent assault. Most of the victims are Zimbabweans. One reason for [...]

Ten Years of Freedom

South African voters elected a new national parliament and nine provincial governments in the nation's third "all-races" elections since the end of apartheid in 1994. Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu (above) applauds after casting his vote. "Often they say the first election after democracy is the last," Tutu told SABCNews. "Many countries degenerate into dictatorships. We are disproving that. We are taking it in our stride."

Counting Your Cubits

Maybe your thwarted dreams of urban development, ancient Hebrew-style, have got you down. Or you could just be pining for a reason to turn off the television. Either way, pout no more! Uberplay and Inspiration Games brings you "The Ark of the Covenant," an intriguing tile-laying game for all ages that adds biblical themes to the award-winning German game "Carcassonne." Each drawn tile adds to land, a road, a temple, or a city. Then sheep, wolves, and strategically placed followers and prophets add to the earned points of completed projects.

"The game doesn't try to teach doctrine. It just gives people an opportunity to talk about history and have fun," said Uberplay's Matt Molen. He says it's the perfect combination of collaboration and competition. (Of course, in Jesus' version the rules are reversed. You win by how much you give away.)

In a country where Jesus’ words "the truth will set you free" are the mandate of a national commission, where forgiveness and reconciliation are not some vague religious ideals but national policy, it’s difficult to look into the lives of ordinary people and not find faith at work.

David Goodman, who traveled to South Africa in the dark days of apartheid in 1984 and then lived with his family for a year in the newly democratic republic in 1996-97, examines the dramatic changes in South Africa in Fault Lines: Journeys into the New South Africa. He doesn’t set out to write about religion, but the church has left such indelible marks upon the South African landscape that he can’t help but touch on deep questions of faith.

The church played a key role in both the construction and the dismantling of apartheid, with Christians on opposing sides during the struggle. Now, in the process of national healing, Christians stand on either side of forgiveness, as victims asked to forgive their oppressors and as oppressors asked to repent of the crimes.

While the emphasis on truth telling and repentance, and forgiveness and reconciliation, highlights the positive influence of the church in South Africa, the church’s role in perpetuating injustice is central to the story of Wilhelm Voerwoort III. The grandson of H.F. Voerwoort, the architect of apartheid, Wilhelm made headlines when he forsook his family’s legacy of white separatism and joined the African National Congress. This conversion came at the end of a long journey for Voerwoort, who at one time wanted to become a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church. He realized that apartheid was a brutal and unjust system while studying abroad in the 1980s. When he returned home, he realized his church had supported this injustice and kept silent about the atrocities committed by whites against blacks. He left the church and, consequently, alienated himself from his family.