It is clear that black consciousness impacted on all corners and all people in South Africa, thus Boesak and Chikane were not unique in this regard. Both Allan Boesak and Frank Chikane emerged in an era when black consciousness and black theology prevailed. Allan Boesak was involved in the early initiatives of the BRC (1974) while he was studying in the Netherlands. His thesis, Farewell to
innocence (1976), represented the zenith of the environment that shaped his
thinking. As we shall see later, his political activism led to his election as president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC).
Chikane later became the General Secretary of the Institute of Contextual Theology (ICT) in Braamfontein, which, like its theological predecessors, sought to reflect on the context of oppression in South Africa. The ICT was open to theologians and academics of other persuasions in its efforts to develop a more contextual theology. It was also open to contributions by other theologians who were not black and, thus, it may be said to have introduced an aberration from the BTSA projects that preceded it.
Both men were motivated in their theological persuasions by a deep desire to practise a prophetic theology that was detached from their own experiences, and those of the people whom they served as pastor. This chapter has shown that these men were active in the development of a contextual theology that spoke prophetically to their times. Chikane was dedicated to the struggle for liberation. This motivated him to write a book, No life of my own. Opposing apartheid was dangerous with many of the opponents of the draconian regime being killed.
Boesak, on the other hand, wrote several books, after his Farewell to Innocence, in condemnation of apartheid and its policies. In August 1982 he delivered a paper in Ottawa, Canada, which led to the WARC signing an unprecedented document against racism in South Africa.
3.2.6 Black consciousness as the trigger for the political activism of Boesak and Chikane
The black consciousness, that was a vehicle to recreate a new humanity that would be close to God and their neighbour, had pushed both Boesak and Chikane to the forefront of South African politics. In 1983 Boesak and Chikane were instrumental in the launching of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Mitchells Plain, Cape Town. The UDF was launched in response to a call by Boesak for a united front of churches, civic associations, trade unions, student organisations and sporting bodies to fight apartheid. Conspicuous in their absence were organisations that regarded themselves as the custodians of the BC ideology prevalent in the 1970s.
The UDF brought together all races in South Africa to defy the apartheid regime. It stood for justice. The UDF comprised approximately 600 organisations. Boesak argued against the representation of a so-called tricameral parliament by stating that the only way to oppose government was to form a united front of all the organisations that opposed apartheid, namely, churches, civic organisations, trade unions, student organisations and sporting bodies. It promoted a non-racial state, undiluted by racial or ethnic considerations, as the only constitutional solution for South Africa. The church struggle now aligned itself firmly with the liberation struggle as the only way in which to achieve the aim of ending
apartheid. This created a theological shift in the church debate from theological arguments to plans of action against apartheid and its various forms of institutionalised racism.
The UDF accommodated people and organisations of all persuasions. Both Chikane and Boesak were keynote speakers at the historic meeting that brought people together people from all over the country. The 1980s witnessed a significant shift in the thinking of Boesak and Chikane that had marked their ideological persuasions in the 1970s. Race was no longer the determining factor in political activism.
3.3 SUMMARY
The background sketched in this chapter was important in arriving at some understanding of the main research question posed in this study. Post 1994 the prophetic voices that had spoken against apartheid fell silent. While much has changed politically and otherwise, the need for a prophetic voice in both the church and society has also grown under the leadership of the ANC. Over the years several schisms have occurred within the ANC. The people in the townships continue to demand basic services and, in many ways, the cries emanating from the poor, women and children echo the apartheid era. Yet, amid all this is the missing prophetic voice that spoke so vigorously and eloquently against apartheid.
The question demands an answer because the democratic era that was ushered in post-1994 held out numerous promises to the poor majority in this country. What is concerning is the silence and almost absent prophetic voice that had
condemned apartheid, both locally and internationally, so enthusiastically and so furiously. What has happened to the prophets of the apartheid era and where are they?
However, before the question may be answered, it is important to discuss aspects of the pre-1994 South Africa during which both Boesak and Chikane played important roles in the struggle for liberation. This is particularly important in relation to two documents, namely, the Kairos Document and the Belhar Confession, which made such an impact in their contributions to the demise of apartheid.
The next chapter contains a brief analysis of these documents as the study seeks to argue and focus on the main research question.
CHAPTER 4
PRESENTATION OF THE ROLE PLAYED BY BOESAK AND
CHIKANE IN THE DRAFTING OF ALTERNATIVE THEOLOGIES
4.1 INTRODUCTION
The previous chapters examined the formation of the theological ideologies of Boesak and Chikane in the context of the black consciousness movement (BCM). By the time the (UDF) was formed in 1983 both these activists had shifted from a liberation theology determined purely along racial lines to one that embraced every person who took a stance against apartheid, black or white. This chapter focuses on both the Belhar Confession and the Kairos documents as an alternative theology and also on how their thinking had shifted to help us understand the theological and ideological basis now underpinning the social activism of both Boesak and Chikane beyond the BCM era.
Boesak was a member of the commission that drafted the Belhar confession in 1982. It was ultimately adopted within the Reformed tradition in 1986. Chikane’s thoughts become clearer as we analyse “The Kairos Document” in whose publication he played an important role in his capacity as General-Secretary of the Institute of Contextual Theology (ICT) in Braamfontein, Johannesburg in 1985 or 1986.
Boesak and Chikane were both born in the poverty of black locations in South Africa. While the apartheid government had tried to use the wedge of coloured superiority over Africans, both these activists had found common ground in the definition of blackness as promoted in the BCM.
In the final analysis, both understood that the struggles for political liberation in their communities were similar and connected in all respects. They were faced with a common enemy in the policies of apartheid and lived out by those who represented the apartheid ideology. This analysis will help us to place Boesak and Chikane’s social activism before 1994 (during apartheid) in contrast to whom they became after 1994 (after apartheid). In addition, this analysis should help us grasp how their prophetic voices were drowned by the euphoria of liberation after 1994 in response to the question as to why the church became silent after 1994.