On the 13th June, Faith Action to End GBV and WWSOSA hosted a courageous conversation with Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva, Chairperson of the Commission for the Protection of the rights of Cultural, Religious, and Linguistic Communities (CRL) about their proposals for a peer review mechanism Section 22 Committee for the Christian Sector.
Around 100 participants were given an opportunity to add their diverse voices to the discussion that has been going on since 2017, in an attempt to break the apparent deadlock between perceived State control and faith sector opposition to it. There is as yet no clear consensus and although everyone agrees that something needs to be done to safeguard all citizens of South Africa and protect the integrity of the Church, many have reservations about the consequences of ceding oversight of the faith sector to a secular State for freedom of religion.
In response, the CRL Chair said that they are looking at a system that is not State-regulated but religious sector-regulated. She added that, “The CRL and Parliament would find State regulation of the religious sector outrageous.” Nevertheless, the fear exists among many religious leaders that this might still be the case, though not as overt as before. The CRL Chair emphasised “the need to reach a space where we recognise that it can’t continue to be business as usual. Indeed, the aim is not to undermine the Christian religion but to save it from itself.” The latter point was vehemently opposed in some of the participants’ comments in the chat, showing the comment had been misunderstood. But there seemed to be consensus that it seems not to be a question of legislating the Christian sector as much as working towards developing a culture of accountability, which needs to permeate through the sector at all levels.
It was a robust dialogue with multiple learnings emerging. This is just the first of a series of conversations on Accountability and the Faith Sector.
The next conversation will be at our monthly Forum Meeting on 2nd July (12.30-4.30). Watch this space for the invitation to that meeting!
Please email coordinator@wwsosa.org to receive further updates.