College of Humanities Hosts Inaugural Allan Boesak Annual Lecture

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Liberation Theologian and anti-apartheid activist Professor Allan Boesak delivered a public theology lecture hosted by the Ujamaa Centre for Biblical and Theological Community Development and Research and the School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics (SRPC) on the Pietermaritzburg campus.

The lecture was attended by academics, religious leaders, community leaders, government officials, students and US President Obama’s former pastor at the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Dr Jeremiah Wright.

Dean and Head of the School Professor Johannes Smit said the lecture was the first in a new series that would allow for a reflection on prophetic theology in the country, Africa and the world.

The Director of the Ujamaa Centre, Professor Simangaliso Kumalo, sees the lecture series as a way to give hope and provide a prophetic critical voice at a time of political instability and to help the Church reflect on its responsibilities.

This year’s lecture focused on: “Seeing Satan Falling like Lightning from Heaven: The Power of the Hopeful Sizwe.”

Boesak openly declared that in South Africa, the dominant narrative about the struggle, the victory over apartheid and the transition to democracy was now becoming a story about backdoor deals, secret pre-negotiations talks and elite pacts, completely negating the struggle of the people.

‘When we think of South Africa’s struggle for freedom, its democratic transition and the ongoing struggles for justice and dignity, we think of the people; their struggles, their joys, their tears, their cries, their ideals and their hopes.

‘Without them there would have been no struggle. Without them there would have been no victory over apartheid. Without them there would be no dreams of a different society and a different world. Without them there would be no hope. It is always the people, the sizwe, the struggling sizwe, the sacrificial sizwe, the hopeful sizwe who make the difference,’ said Boesak.

He went on to speak about the foundations for South Africa’s transition to democracy, the decades of apartheid rule following the election victory of the National Party in 1948, the Defiance Campaign by the hopeful sizwe and South Africa’s largest, nonracial social resistance movement in 1983 in which Boesak was part of and the overall role of the Church.

Reflecting on the ‘darkest hour of our struggle’ in the 1980s, Boesak said: ‘It was the decade of imprisonment and torture; of the frightening notoriety of places like John Vorster Prison, Pollsmoor Prison, and Vlakplaas.’

‘It was the height of apartheid’s arrogance, fear, and hubris; a time where I had seen things I still cannot banish from my mind. For the first time, the world really understood why apartheid was declared “a crime against humanity’’.

Boesak noted that it was also a time of amazing courage, of extraordinary sacrifice, of relentless determination and of audacious hope.

Addressing the current situation of the country, he went on to say that ‘when there are signs of corruption, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela proves herself not afraid to take on the powers that are head-on; her support amongst South Africans is overwhelming and the admiration for her is boundless’.

Boesak also highlighted the crimes against Anene Booysen and Reeva Steenkamp, noting that the vast majority of South Africa’s people, Black and White, stood up to speak up and fight for both women and against the scourge of gender-based violence.

However, Boesak believes that the South African revolution is an incomplete revolution. ‘The dream of a completed revolution will remain, the hope for the power that is not the instrument of threat, mendacity and deceit; of intimidation and repression, but the vessel of the people’s dignity and agency to create a new history will be sustained.

‘The people, determined, militant and resilient, will not give up because like Isaiah, they know that it is only a little while, and the tyrant shall be no more, and like Jesus, they have seen Satan fall like lightning from heaven,’ he concluded.

Melissa Mungroo