TRC Final Report

Volume 5

Chapter 6

Subsection 29

Faith communities

THE COMMISSION FINDS THAT CHRISTIANITY, AS THE DOMINANT RELIGION IN SOUTH AFRICA, PROMOTED THE IDEOLOGY OF APARTHEID IN A RANGE OF DIFFERENT WAYS THAT INCLUDED BIBLICAL AND THEOLOGICAL TEACHING IN SUPPORT OF APARTHEID; ECCLESIASTICAL APARTHEID BY APPOINTING MINISTERS TO CONGREGATIONS BASED ON RACE, AND THE PAYMENT OF UNEQUAL STIPENDS; A FAILURE TO SUPPORT DISSIDENT CLERGY WHO FOUND THEMSELVES IN CONFRONTATION WITH THE STATE; AND A FAILURE TO PROVIDE ECONOMIC SUPPORT TO THOSE MOST SEVERELY AFFECTED BY APARTHEID.

THE FAILURE OF RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES TO GIVE ADEQUATE EXPRESSION TO THE ETHICAL TEACHING OF THEIR RESPECTIVE TRADITIONS, ALL OF WHICH STAND IN DIRECT CONTRADICTION TO APARTHEID, CONTRIBUTED TO A CLIMATE WITHIN WHICH APARTHEID WAS ABLE TO SURVIVE. THE FAILURE OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS REGARD CONTRIBUTED TO THE PERPETUATION OF THE MYTH, PREVALENT IN CERTAIN CIRCLES, THAT APARTHEID WAS BOTH A MORAL AND CHRISTIAN INITIATIVE IN A HOSTILE AND UNGODLY WORLD.

CHAPLAINS, PROVIDED BY THE CHURCHES TO SERVE THE MILITARY, THE POLICE AND OTHER UNIFORMED SERVICES, WORE THE UNIFORMS OF THESE SERVICES, ENJOYED THE RANK OF ARMED PERSONNEL, AND SOME CARRIED SIDE ARMS. THEY WERE PART OF THE ILLEGAL CROSSBORDER ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE MILITARY, AND THEY ACCOMPANIED TROOPS INTO THE TOWNSHIPS AND OTHER INTERNAL SITUATIONS OF CONFLICT ON OCCASION. THEY WERE SEEN TO BE SUPPORTIVE OF THE OFFENSIVE STRUCTURES OF THE FORMER STATE. CHURCHES MUST THEREFORE ACCEPT MORAL ACCOUNTABILITY FOR PROVIDING RELIGIOUS SANCTION AND THEOLOGICAL LEGITIMISATION FOR MANY ACTIONS OF THE ARMED FORCES.

IT IS THE FINDING OF THE COMMISSION THAT RELIGIOUS PROSELYTISING AND RELIGIOUS-BASED NATIONALISM HAVE NOT ONLY SOWN THE SEEDS OF INTER-RELIGIOUS SUSPICION, DISTRUST AND STRIFE, BUT THEY HAVE ALSO CONTRIBUTED DIRECTLY TO RELIGIOUSLY INSPIRED CONFLICT. RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES MUST TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACTIONS OF THEIR FOLLOWERS IN THIS REGARD.

The business sector

156 Business was central to the economy that sustained the South African state during the apartheid years. Certain businesses, especially the mining industry, were involved in helping to design and implement apartheid policies; the white agriculture industry benefited from its privileged access to land. Other businesses benefited from co-operating with the security structures of the former state. Most businesses benefited from operating in a racially structured context.

THE COMMISSION FINDS THAT:

THE DENIAL OF TRADE UNION RIGHTS TO BLACK WORKERS CONSTITUTED A VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS. ACTIONS TAKEN AGAINST TRADE UNIONS BY THE STATE, AT TIMES WITH THE COLLUSION OF CERTAIN BUSINESSES, FREQUENTLY LED TO GROSS VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS.

THE BUSINESS SECTOR FAILED, IN THE HEARINGS, TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR ITS INVOLVEMENT IN STATE SECURITY INITIATIVES, INCLUDING THOSE ASSOCIATED WITH THE NATIONAL SECURITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO SUSTAIN APARTHEID RULE. SEVERAL BUSINESSES, IN TURN, BENEFITED DIRECTLY FROM THEIR INVOLVEMENT IN THE COMPLEX WEB THAT CONSTITUTED THE MILITARY INDUSTRY.

The media

157 State restrictions on the freedom of the media played an important role in facilitating gross violations of human rights. These restrictions grew in intensity until more than 100 laws controlled the right to publish and broadcast. Although not themselves a gross violation of human rights, the restrictions denied South Africans the right to a free flow of information and ideas. At their worst, particularly during the successive states of emergency after 1985, the restrictions amounted to pre-publication censorship of information on state-inspired and state-sanctioned violations.