Continuing with my share from ‘Revisiting The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Faith Community Hearing’ as we look at some of the messages that came out of the second day:
FROM THE TWITTERER [Day 1 of 2]
While 140 character messages don’t capture the whole of what was experienced, hopefully they will help you to catch a bit of a glimpse:
#TRC General buzz in the air. Today it is a lot of testimony from other faith groups so should be interesting.
#TRC In our hunger for reconciliation maybe justice was held at bay. Economic justice. Restitution.
#TRC It’s as if, with the advent of democracy, we gave our mission and ministry to the government.
#TRC Without love, without justice, without genuine fairness, there can be no reconciliation.
#TRC Thulani Ndlanzi (Cong): we have promoted a non-racial community rather than a multi-racial community.
#TRC [Thulani Ndlanzi just raised the bar with that presentation recognising so many vital local issues.]
#TRC Have we lost our minds? Link back to earlier devotion. Where we have grown complacent and normalized injustice.
#TRC [Really enjoying Thulani Ndlanzi. Speaking it like it is. ‘it should be a given that when we drafting laws we focus on women’s rights.’]
#TRC Thulani Ndlanzi: We need to bring God back into schools. What good is it to have a good mathematician with no ethics?
#TRC Thulani Ndlanzi: What good is it to produce a great scientist who has no morals?
#TRC Nadine Bowers du Toit (TEASA): South Africans for the most part seem to have a love hate relationship with reconciliation.
#TRC Brigalia Bam (SACC): Quoting Mandela – You will need to re-interpret your theology that allowed you to accept apartheid.
#TRC Brigalia Bam quoting Mandela -Now is not the time for the churches to return to the cosiness of the sanctuary.
#TRC Malusi Mpumlwana (SACC): We hear more about social cohesion than we do about national reconciliation.
#TRC Hlengiwe Mkhize [panel]: Reconciliation is a generational issue.
#TRC Wow, Thandile Khona, black guy, really giving it to the Muslims in terms of black inclusion within Muslim leadership.
#TRC Thandile Khona is President of Muslim Youth Movement. Really interested to hear what Maulana Abdul Khaliq Allie has to say next.
#TRC Maulana Abdul Khaliq Allie (Sect Gen Muslim Traditional Council): We believe South Africans are waiting on the religious leaders today.
#TRC Maulana Abdul Khaliq Allie: As a religious community we have to be critical of our govt when it comes to corruption.
#TRC Yasmin Sooka: We all have our internal contradictions & in religion this often relates to how do we treat those who are different.
#TRC [Really interesting session listening to the muslim representatives. Some great points.]
#TRC Nalini Gangen (Maha Sabha) just made it clear that all Indians should not be seen through the lens of that one family. #GuptasArentUs
#TRC Nalini Gangen: Hindu marriage not being recognised. Sale of house documents for eg would reflect them as unmarried.
#TRC Nalini Gangen: How we react to what happens and is happening is based on what we have seen.
#TRC Reuben Shapiro from South African Jewish Voices for a Just Peace. This just got political. Gaza statement happening.
#TRC Reuben Shapiro – The Jewish voice in South Africa is not homogenous.
#TRC Big moment of humour as Tutu goes to a mic way too high for him and does a huge jump ‘to reach it’. [TbV hysterical].
#TRC Tutu recounting story of man being tortured – ‘These are God’s children & they need me to help them recover the dignity they are losing.’
#TRC Tutu: As we listen i hope we hear more than just the words. That we remember that we are surrounded by some incredible people.
#TRC [Inspirational break as Tutu gets up and recounts some stories of some of the people in the room.]
#TRC The post apartheid generation. Not sure where the segregation comes from. We need to create spaces to share our stories.
#TRC Frank Chikane: The job is not yet finished. South Africa has a long way to go to deal with the pain of the past. Black and white pain.
#TRC Imam Rashied Omar – It’s not the job of the state to do forgiveness.
#TRC Rashied Omar: Bicycle theology. You stole my bicycle. Years later you are sorry. But where’s my bicycle?
[Loved that analogy – found it really helped get my mind a little more about the idea of Economic and Land Reparation that still needs to happen]
#TRC Rashied Omar: Too much co-operation with the state. But we were co-opted by the state. Don’t fly flags in the church.
#TRC Eddie van der Borght (Amsterdam): The urgency of this moment, the momentum, should not be lost.
#TRC Nico Koopman – I think one of the reasons we live so distant from each other is because we still live with stereotypes of each other.
#TRC Nico Koopman – Please notice the abnormality in the normality.
#TRC Nico Koopman – Words are important because words create worlds. But we need to move beyond words to other types of action.
#TRC Nico Koopman. Forgiveness paves the way for reconciliation, restitution and reparation. It makes us hungry for more.
#TRC Tutu: This is one of the maddest countries. #TellingStoriesOfInsaneForgiveness
#TRC Tutu: This thing we are talking about [TRC] was a broken instrument. But God used it.
#TRC Tutu: We should be taking off our shoes. Cos this is holy ground.
#TRC Tutu: We are a country that is meant to show the world how we are supposed to be a family of God.
#TRC Tutu just threw away his closing address and is winging it by the Spirit. #PowerfulEnd
And let me close with some other Tweets from some others who were there:
@rogersaner “Somehow we haven’t been able to translate the large religious presence in SA into justice.” – @digitaldion #TRC
@changeagentSA “@TutuLegacy: Nyobole: “In the past we have neglected our role in education but are reclaiming our role” #TRC
@tutulegacy The biggest beneficiaries of apartheid were the business communities. #TRC
@tutulegacy Pillay: “Unity is a gift given to us by God. We need a bigger vision. Jesus calls us to be one.” #TRC
@rogersaner An obvious need coming out of today is for white South Africans to do some serious work to face and own the past and privilege #TRC
@digitaldion ‘Now is not the time for the Churches to retreat to the safety of the sanctuary’ Nelson Mandela #TRC comment in 1997. Still true today!
@val_c_anderson We need a different kind of theology that can underpin action – “contextual theology”. #TRC
@val_c_anderson “There’s no such thing as apolitical religion.” ~ Dr Rashied Omar. #TRC
So there you have it. Does not do what happened the last two days immense justice, but hopefully gives glimpses and some challenging ideas and concepts to reflect on and wrestle with.
A big thing that came out looking back at the original TRC is that perhaps we focused too much on Truth that we overlooked justice.
Another big idea that was said on many occasions was the need for reparation and land reform [of which fairly little has been done] to add to the reconciliation and justice that did happen.
A big failure was that the church/faith communities as a whole seemed to sit back and hope the government would take the lead on Reconciliation , whereas the Government had initially hoped that the church would pick up and continue the work of the TRC in hundreds of little TRC’s all over the country [which never really happened and quite possibly because it was not well communicated enough]
The church/faith communities as a whole has failed to be involved enough in areas of Reconciliation and has a lot of work to do. The majority of the people in South Africa would fall into some kind of faith community and so it seems to make a lot of sense that if the faith communities as a whole got serious about this stuff it should and would happen.
And more… we closed off by singing the national anthem together which was a powerful moment.
[To return to the beginning of my reflections on these two days, click here]
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