Preparatory Reflections

The Most Reverend Njongonkulu Winston Hugh Ndungane

Introduction

My perspectives on conflict and cooperation are indelibly shaped by my experience of apartheid, followed by peaceful transition to democracy. The new South Africa is a vibrant and optimistic society which aspires to celebrate together our diverse heritage, upholding these rights through our progressive and widely acclaimed constitution.

The expectation of human flourishing through a unity expressed in creative diversity is also a fundamental tenet of my Christian faith, which I have found in evidence in rich and varied ways within the life of Southern Africa and beyond.

South Africa – The Conflicts of the Past

Inter-cultural and inter-racial conflict has a long and deeply entrenched history in Southern Africa. It is worth recounting some of this in order not only to see how remarkable our current situation is, but also to grasp how even the most recalcitrant of situations can find unimaginable redemption.

The seventeenth century colonialist settlers spreading north and east from the Cape found themselves on a collision course with the varied populations, including my ancestors, who were already living, not always peacefully, across the sub-continent.

To cut a long story short, the colonisers got the upper hand. A single state of South Africa was established in 1910. Various laws progressively enshrined racial discrimination, until the nationalist election victory in 1948 led to the comprehensive systematisation of apartheid – under which more than 15 different racial categories were distinguished.
The extent and severity of this discrimination is hard to imagine for those who did not experience its atrocities. Not surprisingly, it was widely predicted that the collapse of apartheid would bring a bloodbath of retribution.

That carnage did not ensue is nothing short of miraculous. Furthermore, the impetus for peaceful change came from the oppressed. From early in the struggle, the liberation movements were committed to a non-racial South Africa that had an equal place for everyone.

This desire was famously expressed by Nelson Mandela at his 1960 trial, when he said ‘I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal I hope to live for … But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.’ Twenty-six years in prison did not change his view.

His perspective was widely shared. Though Robben Island was an indescribable hell-hole, it also became a beacon of hope for overcoming adversity. I spent three years there as a political activist. It was my ‘university of the world’ in which I say I majored in humanities. Though separated in society, prisoners of every hue rubbed shoulders together – even with those whose evidence had helped convict us – and found our common humanity. The sadistic brutality of many white warders also opened our eyes to see they were merely human like us, and certainly not the near-angelic higher beings that propaganda presented. We emerged from these inhospitable conditions renewed in our belief in freedom and justice for all, committed to a life of service, and convinced that lasting peace could only come through reconciliation and forgiveness.
This was the path we chose to tread when political change finally came. This spirit underlay the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which moved us so far forward in our building of a new nation, though much remains to be done.

The New South Africa

Our new constitution, promulgated in 1996, after two years of extensive consultation, explicitly states it is intended to ‘heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights; and lay the foundations for a democratic and open society…’

It outlaws unfair discrimination on any grounds, ‘including race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth.’

Commitment to a unity expressed in diversity is demonstrated in the constitution’s promotion of 11 official languages, three endangered indigenous languages, and sign language; and the safeguarding of all other community languages (with eight examples cited), together with Arabic, Hebrew, Sanskrit and ‘any other languages used for religious purposes.’

Of course it is still early days, yet so far the implementation of the constitution is proving productive to the development of a richly pluralist society.

Likewise, there is a guaranteed role for traditional leaders, and for traditional, community and religious laws, insofar as they are compatible with wider provisions of the constitution. The Constitutional Court has ruled that daughters have equal inheritance rights, so that the property of a man without sons should not pass instead to the nearest male relative. But in other areas traditional practices are upheld within the courts of the land.

Morality and Diversity

It is noteworthy that provision is thus made for diverse community, cultural, linguistic and religious expression within the public arena, not confining it to the private realm. This contrasts with the expectation elsewhere that all players adopt a so-called neutral, objective, liberal-democratic stance – though this comes laden with ideological baggage, and is susceptible to dominance by market forces rather than human realities and needs.

This context allows for a far broader, more textured, debate on the goals of society – the appropriate flourishing of each individual, as part of the wider human family, in harmony with creation. It offers possibilities of constructive dialogue around moral issues, without any community feeling under threat or in competition. The strengths of traditions offer checks against unfettered relativism – and even those of us who believe in the revelation of a God who is absolute, acknowledge that finite human comprehension is always challenged to fuller understanding and expression.

Instabilities and potential for conflict thrive where individuals and communities are prevented from prospering appropriately – whether through denial of self-expression or economic resources. In South Africa, there is a strong statistical link between poverty and crime which cuts across other differences. Tensions between communities are generally linked to competition over power and access to economic means.

I am convinced that economic injustice is the greatest threat to global human well-being. Injustice readily turns difference into division. Equitable societies can promote healthy and productive diversity. South Africans know this.

On a global scale, if the international community really did guarantee the provisions of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, for example, constructive debate over global resources and economic competition could be conducted in quite a different atmosphere – whereas trade talks today are a matter of life and death for too many hungry people in poorer nations. Collaboration against such threats as HIV/AIDS would be far more automatic, and require far less justification in the face of narrow competitive self-interest.

Faith in Support of Diversity

Christianity offers important insights. Human diversity is part of our intrinsic self-understanding as created in the image of God who is the mystery called Trinity, three-in-one and one-in-three – Father, Son and Holy Spirit in one God-head. They are diverse, distinct, in person, character and function. But they are united in substance and purpose, collaborative and complimentary, the whole greater than the sum of the parts.

This is a model for human interaction: none superior to another, reciprocal rather than hierarchical; none acting independently or at another’s expense, but always with mutual awareness and in relation; none dominating another’s particular role or characteristics or responsibilities; all are always open to one another, honest and vulnerable, complimented not diminished in their common life.

This is our understanding of what it means to live as fully human – as individuals, in families, in communities, in nations, and in relation to the whole of creation. Created diversity allows for creative diversity and rich mutual engagement. Pluralism is an opportunity not a threat. This applies not just to faith and culture, but to differences in personality and character and experience. It is far to easy to allow even such trivialities as differences in accent or fashion sense to blind us to what we share in our intrinsic humanity.

We must allow our eyes to be opened to the redemptive potential that is offered when we live as humanity was meant to live.

The faith communities have a particular role here. As Archbishop Temple said, there is no aspect of human activity which is outside God’s concern and purposes. It is the responsibility of the Church to place before humanity a vision of what society could be.

Conclusion

South Africa is something of a global microcosm in our diversity and plurality. Against all expectation, we overcame vast differences, even violent conflict, to go forward with commitment to a thriving, open, diverse society with room for everyone in their own unique particularity, within communities of their own choosing. If we can do this, then no-one need live without hope in the face of culture-clash and conflict.

The Archbishop of Cape Town, The Most Reverend Njongonkulu Ndungane, 1st June, 2005