wfn.org | (CPSA Synod) Archbishop calls for apartheid reparation tax

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@wfn.org>]

Anglican Church of the Province of Southern Africa

By Patrick Leeman
("Natal Mercury", Durban)

The Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Archbishop Njongonkulu 
Ndungane, has proposed the imposition of a one-off reparations tax 
to be used to help individuals, families and  communities who were 
the targets of human rights abuses during the apartheid era.

	Delivering  his archbishop's charge at the opening of the 
provincial synod in Durban yesterday, the head of the Anglican 
Church in southern Africa said this tax should be imposed on 
people above a certain income  bracket.

	The priority should be to help the elderly families who had lost 
their breadwinners, the disabled and to provide for the education of 
children who had lost  parents.

	The archbishop said the perpetrators of human rights abuses 
who fulfilled the legal requirements were being granted amnesty.  
This meant they could not be civilly or criminally prosecuted.

	"It is time for us to turn our attention once more to the material 
needs of those who have suffered the most."

	Archbishop Ndungane said at a media briefing later that he 
would support a men's march to protest against the current wave of 
violence towards women, especially rape.

	The archbishop said the church needed to recognize its 
complicity in this crisis of the abuse of women.

	If the challenges of rape, domestic violence, the denigration of 
women's bodies and the denial of women's humanity were not 
addressed, this would indicate a "gross neglect" of the church's 
ministry.

	Archbishop Ndungane said that the selling off of gold reserves 
by Western countries to fund international debt repayments was 
"not acceptable".

	He said Japanese banks had written off $600 billion (R3 600 
billion) without destabilising the world economy.  Other major debts 
could be cancelled at the stroke of a pen.

	The archbishop said that more than 60% of this international 
debt was owed by the developing countries in Africa.

	To talk of an "African renaissance" was meaningless, therefore, 
unless the continent could overcome its social and economic 
problems.

--Ends--

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Item submitted by the CPSA Provincial Synod Media Team
Synod meeting in Durban, Diocese of Natal, South Africa

Tel  +27 (31) 260 2445  --  Fax  +27 (31) 260 1633
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