SACC STATEMENT OF THE DESTABILISATION OF THE COUNTRY
Statement - From the desk of the General Secretary, Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana
The heads of churches of the South African Council of Churches (SACC) met on
Thursday, 25 February 2021, and expressed alarm and concern at the manner in
which a certain sector of our society appears to sit lightly on the South African
constitutional order. They respect the constitution only on terms favourable to their
immediate interests. We wish to reaffirm that the law of the land, the pinnacle of
which is the Constitution, should always claim its place of honour, and not be swayed
by defiance and prevarication which seek to replace the rule of law.
As we read the signs of the times (Matthew 16:3), we see indications across the
body politic, that there are some who stand for their short-term individual and
personal interests, at the express expense of the South African nation and the
institutions designed to equitably serve the interests of all South Africans over time.
We wish to make it known to all who would undermine and destabilise the South
African constitutional order that this is not acceptable and will not be tolerated.
Nobody, but nobody is, and will be treated as above the other 60 million South
Africans in the application of the law. The rule of law must be predictable and it must
be even-handed and equitable. Anyone with a just cause concerning the unjust
application of the law must do so within the law and not to spite the law, and thereby
destabilise society.
Recently the SACC expressed “deep concern about the possible implications of the
declared decision by former President Jacob Zuma not to cooperate with, and to turn
his back on the processes of the Zondo Commission.” We also sounded the alarm
on Mr. Zuma’s language of referring to the South African law, as “their law”,
presumably referring to those with whom he disagrees. We warned that this was
laying a foundation for a movement of people who support Mr. Zuma outside the
walls of the law of the land, and that this might lead to people being killed. As it now
stands, Mr. Zuma’s actions of refusing to come before the Zondo Commission have
given other individuals license to do the same.
In his capacity with the official title of Former President, and all the regulatory
provisions and responsibilities that go with that title, Mr. Zuma is a constitutional
being. As we said at the time, referencing his constitutional status as former
president, “In this regard alone, Mr. Zuma cannot be outside the law and make it
‘their law’; for nobody is above the law of the land.”
Therefore, even for Mr. Zuma, and maybe precisely because it is him – a former
president and a constitutional being, he cannot do anything that points the direction
outside the rule of law. For example, to encourage the posting outside his home, of a
para-military guard that has no legal status and is not regulated anywhere in the law
of the land is in itself treading in the domain of lawlessness. Might there also be arms
caches that relate to paramilitary units, maybe in different parts of the country even?
Might there be people receiving illegal military-style training that society should worry
about? The word of Prophet Zechariah persuades differently, “These are the things
that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another, render in your gates judgments that
are true and make for peace, do not devise evil in your hearts against one another,
and love no false oath; for all these are things that I hate, says the Lord” (Zechariah
8:16-17).
In a recent article on this incipient lawlessness, Prof. William Gumede of Wits
University warned that South Africa is headed the Mexico way “where the criminal
underworld, cartels and gangs have terrifying power and have brazenly created no-go
zones, defied laws and violently attacked police forces without being brought to
book…The country is on the verge of a terrifying plunge into full-scale, Mexico-like
lawlessness, chaos and social breakdown, with political, security and criminal cartels
running large parts of the government, communities and civil society.”
The leaders of the member churches of the South African Council of Churches are
concerned that the tendency to undermine the rule of law is brewing in the very party
with the constitutional responsibility to uphold and protect the law as government, the
African National Congress. It is in the governing party that we have seen the
makings of the cartels that Gumede points to; with excesses of corruption and
impunity; and it is in the governing party that we see elements that seem to
champion lawlessness and destabilisation, including threats of a coup d'etat or
insurrection.
The preamble to the Constitution ends with the words: “May God protect our people”.
It is indeed the constitutional imperative for the church to rise to protect the people of
South Africa in the name of God, for “we are ambassadors for Christ, God making
his appeal through us” (2 Cor. 5:20a). It is an imperative that we seek to share with
all who call upon the name of the Lord, for tomorrow is not in our hands, and may be
too late. As the Book of James says, “Anyone who knows the right thing to do and
fails to do it, commits sin” (James 4:17).
Let it be set on record that in November 2020, the SACC offered to meet Mr. Zuma
“to explore issues related to the impasse on the Zondo Commission.” There was no
response to this request. In our February 2021 statement we, yet again, offered the
opportunity to engage with Mr. Zuma on any possible options to meet the
requirements of the Commission to testify and not defy. Things have now reached a
stage where we are duty bound to call his action and that of his supporters for what it
is, an option for the destabilisation of the country. This appears to be part of a
broader trend that is playing out in internal ANC politics where justifications for this
behaviour have to be politically sustained.
We stand to warn the governing party that South Africans will not stand for and
tolerate destabilisation and chaos from any quarter, and certainly not from the ranks
of a party charged by the Constitution with the responsibility for public order. The
trust of South Africans given at elections is sacred, and we need the African National
Congress in government to reassure South Africa that as a party they
wholeheartedly support and defend the Constitution and its institutions, including the
judiciary that has repeatedly been attacked publicly without evidence of wrongdoing
adduced. These are the makings of institutional destabilisation.
Any party that is presently leading Government at local or provincial or national level
should not use its privilege of influence in a way that leads the country into chaos
and disarray. Specifically, disagreements within the ANC must not be managed at
the expense of the country and its 60 million citizens. We call on the ANC as the
leading party, to pronounce openly about the tendency in its ranks, and act decisively
on what appears set to destabilise the South African constitutional order.
The SACC heads of churches yearn to hear from South Africans, a loud “NO to
Destabilisation!”
Download the statement here:
FINAL_SACC Statement on the Destabilisat
.
Download • 165KB
About SACC
The South African Council of Churches (SACC) is an ecumenical association of affiliated
Christian Churches, and blocks of churches such as The Evangelical Alliance and the
Council of African Independent Churches, and the International Federation of Christian
Churches, share in the mandate to lead common Christian action that works for moral
witness in South Africa. SACC does not exist for the propagation and the advancement of its
doctrinal position, but is the place where our diverse interpretations of our faith come
together in action for social justice. It therefore seeks to achieve a visible, just socioeconomic
and ecological impact, enabled through engaged churches-in-community for a
reconciled South Africa and our sub-continent.
