Nelson Mandela. File picture: Mike Hutchings Nelson Mandela. File picture: Mike Hutchings
Johannesburg - The South African Council of Churches (SACC) on Thursday asked the nation to reflect on what true reconciliation meant as South Africa prepares for the second anniversary of former President Nelson Mandela’s death on December 5.
SACC General Secretary Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana said the road ahead to true reconciliation was a journey and each citizen should reflect on what it takes to “navigate the road to a truly reconciled South Africa”.
The SACC launched a campaign earlier this year called “The South Africa We Pray For” which focused on “the issue of the healing and reconciliation for our country, its people and the conditions under which they live”.
As the campaign returns into the public consciousness this month, Mpumlwana urged citizens to join hands and work together towards reconciliation which “requires that we work together to defend our democracy and the humanity proclaimed by our Constitution”.
Acknowledging the immensity of the work that lay ahead, Mpumlwana said that in saying yes to reconciliation and moving forward, and making inroads in healing of divisions between different races, it meant all citizens needing to work together to “eradicate the poverty spawned by a system that thrived on the deprivation of the majority”.
He said reconciliation meant working together to ensure food security and an end malnutrition, homelessness and ignorance, and to work to stamp out crime and corruption and ensure economic emancipation for all.
Madiba fought for a “just, reconciled and equitable society, free of racial, tribal, xenophobic and gender prejudices, free of corruption and deprivation, and with enough food and shelter for every citizen, and for each child born to grow to their God-given potential”.
Mpumlwana said this vision needed to be carried forward. “This is the South Africa we pray for and shall work for,” he added.
He said churches across South Africa would commemorate Mandela’s memory in services on Sunday, December 6.
ANA