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PARTICIPANT-OBSERVER
When I, as Researcher, look back on the road I have travelled until now, I can identify many places and people who have been part of my formation and moulding into the person I am today. I thank the Lord Jesus Christ that He made me His and that I can have an intimate relationship with Him and that He is using me to be involved in the reconciliation process in our country. I grew up on a smallholding, two kilometres from the edge of Sharpeville just outside Vereeniging, a town in Gauteng, South Africa. My parents taught us, as children, to treat all people with respect, even if they are black. As far as I could judge, they had good relationships with black people, although I couldn’t always agree with their actions. In retrospect I realise that, over the years, different incidents worked together to shape my present understanding of the need for reconciliation in our country. I describe here a few of the more outstanding incidents. At the age of twelve I had to stay at home to tend to the livestock while my parents and younger brothers visited my grandparents. My father arranged with one of his ‘boys’ at the workplace to stay with me during that week. That experience awakened many questions in my mind. Why was old John not allowed to use the extra bed in my room, especially as he had to travel a long distance by bicycle to our place? Why was he told to wash his hands at the outside tap, using an old piece of cloth to dry them? Why did he have to use a tin plate, cup and spoon, which were stored on the stoep, and not allowed to use our outside toilet?
Later I also realised the discrepancy between the situations of white and black scholars, and was bothered by several questions, such as: Why did we have the privilege of a school bus while the black children from Sharpeville and Top Location have to run kilometres to school? Why did we have free schooling while Anna, our housemaid, had to pay for her children’s school fare, books, pencils, etc? In 1960 I was an eyewitness of the Sabre- and Harvard aeroplanes that swept over Sharpeville. I still remember the tremendous noise as the aeroplanes dived down and then soared up into the sky, an attempt to instil fear in the hearts of the protestors. Naturally the white people were also terrified! Through this experience the sense that something was wrong in our country, grew. Still my father’s opinion had a great influence on my way of thinking. As far back as I can remember, he was on the Church Council of our DRC congregation – first as deacon and later as elder, who was often called by our minister to help with difficult situations in families. He could really help people reconcile with one other. He was very disappointed about Beyers Naudé’s stand, (Chapter 2, par 2.2.1.1), and was also annoyed by the local missionary who became ‘too friendly’ with the black people. While visiting family friends I witnessed a black father attacking his ±6 year old boy with a piece of hose-pipe, while my father and his friend were looking on and even laughing! The farmer actually commanded the father to punish his child for not keeping the cows out of the wheat-fields – while the father himself was drunk at home. I was furious, grabbed the hose-pipe and pushed the father away. This created a tense atmosphere in my relationship with my father and his friend. As a university student I joined regular ‘missionary work’ visits to Tembisa Township, as well as an outreach to Sekhukuneland in North-Eastern Transvaal. I discovered that black people are also people who love the Lord and that white people can learn something from their way of worshipping and expressing love for the Lord, and experienced how God reveals Himself to any one who calls unto Him, irrespective colour, language, intelligence, or position in life.
Reconciliation between fellow human beings
Reconciliation with God must work out in reconciliation amongst human beings. Matthew 22:37 – 40 indicates that love towards God is most important and love to our fellow human beings next. Romans 13: 8- 10 says that love to other people is important, because the presupposition is love to God. One of the tragic aspects of the current moral discourse in South Africa “… is that while concepts such as repentance, forgiveness, justice, truth and reconciliation are inherently Christian notions, Christians and churches have often withdrawn from the public conversation – thus leaving it open to secularly construed meanings. Often this is accompanied by a type of detached criticism of the attempts to deal with these issues (for instance, the work of the TRC), rather than by a more constructive, albeit critical, engagement” (Vosloo, 2001: 26). Vosloo quotes Miroslav Volf as saying “theologians should concentrate less on social arrangements and more on fostering the kind of social agents capable of envisioning and creating just, truthful, and peaceful societies, and on sharing a cultural climate in which such agents will thrive” (Volf, as cited in Vosloo, 2001:35) This implies that reconciliation has everything to do with the character of the self that engages with other persons. For reconciliation we need people who embody forgiveness and repentance. We need people who mourn in the light of brokenness, reach out in vulnerability to the other and have the courage to embrace or be embraced (Vosloo, 2001: 32).
How we as South Africans, and especially as faith communities, are going to confess or forgive others in the process of reconciliation, depends on the identity question: “Who are we?” There must be the will to make a way for others into our hearts, a will to embrace those that we see as wrongdoers. When talking about reconciliation in South Africa, we must take into account the differences in cultural settings, for instance, the question of how different cultural groups see time. This is one of the problems we have with reconciliation. There is a difficulty in taking the pace of the other. Some want to get on “with the job”, while others want more time to reflect on the past and work out things for themselves. This leads to confrontation and many times goodwill is questioned because of this. Dr Fanie du Toit, Program Manager of the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, interviewed a gathering of unemployed squatters, a group of black entrepreneurs, some successful District Six land claimants, various Bishop’s Court residents, a group of policemen from Mitchell’s Plain, and youth groups along Klipfontein Road in Mowbray, Athlone and Gugulethu. All of them were asked about reconciliation and justice in South Africa. The white youth group defined reconciliation as “seeing another’s point of view”. The coloured group defined it as “coming together,” and the black youth group referred to it as “practical acts, not just hugs and kisses”. The focus group suggests that three issues impact directly on society’s dim outlook on South Africa – unaccountable leadership, slow material development and violence. Black, coloured and white groups all tend to see leaders, from the highest office down to their local councillor, as “corrupt, greedy and neglecting the needs of the people” (Cape Argus, 12 August 2002).
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Relevance of the study
1.2 Aim of the study
1.3 Research problem
1.4 Hypothesis
1.5 Methodology
1.6 Participant-observer
1.7 Definition of Terms
1.8 The Afrikaans Churches
1.9 Overview
CHAPTER 2: CHURCH SITUATION, JANUARY
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Situation in the Afrikaans Churches in the country and the role they played in society
2.3 Ecumenical tension due to racial relations
CHAPTER 3: TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION
3.1 Establishing of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)
3.2 Attitude of churches towards the TRC
3.3 Churches and special hearings
CHAPTER 4: HEARINGS OF THE FAITH COMMUNITIES AND SUBMISSIONS OF THE AFRIKAANS CHURCHES
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Submissions
CHAPTER 5: CHALLENGES ON THE ROAD TO RECONCILIATION
5.1 Introduction
5.2 The process of Reconciliation and the demands of obedience
5.3 Proposals of the TRC
5.4 Church initiatives and responses to the proposals of TRC
5.5 Examples of reconciliation in communities
5.6 The South African Council of Churches
5.7 Attempts of the DRC
5.8 Church unity!?
5.9 Conclusion
CHAPTER 6: DEVELOPING A COMPREHENSIVE RECONCILIATION MINISTRY: MODELS AND PROPOSALS
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Models for reconciliation ministries
6.3 Developing a comprehensive ministry of reconciliation
CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSIONS
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Research problems
7.3 Hypothesis
