Freedom day. 14 years on - aluta continua
Sunday, April 27, 2008 at 11:47AM I remember where Megan and I were 14 years ago today. It was 27 April 1994, Megan and I were serving on the Golden West Circuit, one of the appointments we had was in the Khokosi Township just outside of Fochville in the Northwest province. Our Bishop was Peter Storey, he and Mvume Dandala (who was then the minister of the Central Methodist Mission in JHB) had arranged that all Methodist Clergy in the district were trained as peace officers since there was a rising tide of political violence, and government instigated interference to de-rail our first ever democratic elections in South Africa.
Megan and I had also been trained as voting officials, we had run workshops in the two townships that were geographically in our circuit, Khokosi and Khutsong, and I was on the executive of the peace initiative in the area. Khokosi was a Pan Africanist Congress stronghold - just in that week in the run up to the elections I had been approached by Rev Itumeleng Thlakanye to help secure the release of some young men in the community who had been arrested. It was a tense time.
There had been various instances of violence (bombings at the airport, the deaths of a number of right wing extremists in a botched raid, massive conflict between the ANC and IFP in KwaZulu Natal)... To be honest, we all expected some trouble on the day of the elections...
But, on the 27th of April 1994 Megan and I cast our votes in Khokosi (early in the morning), and then spent the rest of the day driving my little white Golf between Khokosi, Fochville, Carletonville and Khutsong monitoring the elections. We both wore the blue and white 'bibs' of the peace initiative, I wore a clerical shirt (at the request of our Bishop). The lines were long, but the mood was high! It is truly a memorable event - certainly one of the highlights of my life!
It was a peaceful day, a miracle of God's grace! I had formerly been a member of the UDF (United Democratic Front) at WITS University, and my interests were certainly in the area of the African National Congress. Well, you can work out for yourself which party got my vote in that first election... In fact, if I recall, 63% of the South African population voted for the ANC. It was wonderful when Mr Mandela took up the presidency.
We had such great hope! It truly was the dawning of a 'New South Africa'!
Sadly, some of that hope has started to fade. Yes, we have seen some remarkable strides being made on issues of national and social concern, but in many areas we have retreated. Corruption is high, morals are low, many seem to be in government not for the sake of bettering the lives of ordinary people, but rather to grab power and acquire personal wealth.
I had a choice to leave South Africa at the end of last year - a job at a fantastic University in America - but we decide to stay! It is only 14 years on... We have over 350 years of oppression, and in 14 years we have done some significant work to 'untie' many of those knots.
I want to encourage those who are contemplating leaving South Africa to pray about the impact you could have by staying here. I want to encourage all Christians to pray for our nation, and to pray for those whom we elect to govern us. I want to encourage all of us to be unashamedly ethical, and willing to go the extra mile to do those things that we long for our government to do. Churches, let's do our bit to build homes, to establish credible educational institutions, let's heal the sick (both by prayer, but also by establishing clinics and hospitals), let's equip our members to make sound choices in their workplaces and homes, let's help people to gain freedom from the slavery of debt, and empower them to make decisions about their lives (and the lives of those whom they love).
Each day I pray those words from the Lord's prayer Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done. On earth as it is in heaven - I realise that I am responsible to be one of God's answers to that prayer.
The struggle is not yet over! Let's celebrate the victories of freedom that we have won, but let's take seriously that we have a responsibility to disciple a nation! Aluta continua!
Happy Freedom Day!
Today I am spending some time with my wife and children - I am getting ready for a trip to Israel later this week.
Technorati tags: South Africa, Freedom Day, 27 April, aluta continua, discipling a nation
Reader Comments (1)
Thanks for your thoughts Dion, and yes - the struggle continues!