If you were asked to comment, and make a judgment on the new book authored by academic Dr Tau Motsepe, one would be hard-pressed not to conclude that the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, has, under its current leadership, morphed into a right-wing religious institution.
The common thread running through the book, as expressed by the author, is the church no longer holds dear and sacrosanct the democratic tenets of the rule of law – its priests are treated with disrespect, and can routinely be dismissed, or have their licences revoked at a whim.
The book gives a strong perception that even the Archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba, does not care, tends to wash his hands off it all, Pilate-style, when diocesan priests are harassed by his colleagues, often weakly arguing he is unable to intervene in diocesan matters, even where there are compelling reasons to do so.
And we may ask, what has gone wrong with the church of eminent leaders such as Desmond Tutu, Njongonkulu Ndungane and Trevor Huddleston?
In his book, Motsepe provides answers, using factual evidence to show why the wheels may be coming off the church that in the past was associated with struggles for human rights and social justice.
The book, The Anglican Church of Southern Africa v/s Livingstone Lubabalo Ngewu: The Unholy Wars, paints a dark picture of the Anglican church and its polity under the guidance of its current leadership.
The book turns on its principal actor, Bishop Jo Seoka, the retired bishop of the Diocese of Pretoria, described in the book as a manipulator with evil streak masked in his episcopal garments. During his tenure as the bishop, Seoka’s conduct towards priests is described as not in keeping with precepts of social justice and fairness.
The Reverend Livingstone Lubabalo Ngewu, a central figure in the book, ironically presented for his MA at the University of Glasgow, a dissertation titled, The Parallels between Persecution in the Early Church and the Russian Orthodox Church since the Rise of the Bolsheviks in 1917.
Little did he know at the time he would be a subject of persecution himself – which some assert contributed to his ill-health and death in 2012.
Ngewu, a former senior lecturer and chaplain at the University of Transkei, now Walter Sisulu University, was a scholar, teacher and a prolific author, with 18 books to his credit.
Seoka would, it is alleged with evil intentions, stalk him to the end of his life – a man who, according to the book – loved to work the land because he felt that “my closeness to the earth brings me closer to God”. Sadly, the bishop even denied him the right to have his life celebrated at the Cathedral of Saint Alban, Pretoria, his own church, where he was its rector and dean.
It was the Roman Catholics who saved the situation, opening their nearby church to have Ngewu’s life celebrated by his friends because Seoka had locked the gates and doors “of his cathedral”.
I end with poignant words of the young priest, Fr Nkosinathi Nkomonde, also dismissed from the Cathedral Church without procedures being followed: “I want to study towards a law degree just to have options in life and to ensure I do not become a property of a bishop.”
The book is available at leading book outlets.
- Mdhlela is a freelance journalist, an Anglican priest, ex-trade unionist and former publications editor of the SA Human Rights Commission publications
- Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa. To Subscribe to Sunday World, click here.
