South Africa’s Catholic bishops promoted “reconciliation” as the country marked 30 years of democracy ahead of this month’s national elections.
Officials have continued to blame the legacy of apartheid for the social and political problems, but the anniversary of the first democratic elections in April 1994 threatened to expose the extent of disappointment with the system and divisions in South African society.
Opening a new Marian shrine last week, Archbishop Joseph Tlhagale of Johannesburg said it would be a place of reconciliation.
“This shrine will become a place of reconciliation, of mending broken hearts, a place of deep-seated peace, a place of spiritual healing, a place where small miracles will take place,” he said at the dedication of the Mother of Mercy Shrine in Magaliesburg.
The archbishop described it as “a place of refuge from a world of harsh discrimination, of hate, of jealousy, and from a world where human hearts are simply cold” and a place “to experience a heavenly mother’s unconditional love again – even if we ourselves are old and our earthly mothers are elsewhere”.
Archbishop Tlhagale spoke ahead of much-anticipated elections in late May. Church figures have been increasingly vocal in response to economic hardships and increased crime in recent months, criticising a lack of political will to respond.
The South African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC) renewed these calls after a priest was killed in Pretoria. Fr Paul Tatu Mothobi was found dead from gunshot wounds in his car on 27 April, a month after another priest was shot dead in a cathedral.
“On behalf of the bishops, I appeal to all people responsible for these murders to refrain from thinking that they can do what they like with people’s lives. Life belongs to God, and no one has a right to take it as one pleases,” said Bishop Sithembele Sipuka of Umtata, the president of the SACBC.
He appealed to President Cyril Ramaphosa to respond to increasing violent crime, noting that “there is a growing impression among South Africans that criminals are freely murdering the citizens with no fear of consequences”.
Fr Mothobi, a member of the Congregation of the Sacred Stigmata (known as Stigmatines) was a former media and communications officer with the SACBC.
Bishop Sipuka said the death was “not an isolated incident but rather a distressing example of the deteriorating state of security and morality”, noting the death of Fr William Banda in Tzaneen in March. Nobody has been arrested for Banda’s murder.
“The murder of these priests occurs amid growing concerns about the increasing disregard for the value of life, where people are wantonly killed,” he said.
Last week, the Vatican confirmed the appointment of a new apostolic nuncio to South Africa and Lesotho, Archbishop Henryk Mieczyslaw Jagodzinski. The Polish diplomat, a former nuncio to Ghana, takes the role from Archbishop Peter Bryan Wells who has been posted to Thailand and Cambodia.
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