(RUBIN PHILIP)
By Subry Govender
A former Anglican leader of KwaZulu-Natal and a
former black consciousness leader, Bishop Rubin Philip, has called on political
parties to help in the social and economic development of people instead of
promoting racial divisions.
Bishop Philip, 73, who is the deputy chairperson of the
KwaZulu-Natal Social Cohesion Council, made the call early on Friday (Oct 8) when
appearing as a special guest on the current affairs programme of the SABC’s national
SAFM radio station.
He was invited as a participant following the uproar over
the racist posters that were put up by the DA in Phoenix, north of Durban. The
DA has since apologised for its actions and has also pulled down the posters.
Bishop Philip, who was banned, house-arrested and
denied his passport during his struggles for a free South Africa, pointed out that
the real problems affecting the residents of Phoenix and Bhambayi are the
poverty, lack of decent housing, proper schools and general socio-economic
development.
He was of the view that political parties should
concentrate their efforts in improving the socio-economic conditions of people
in areas such as Phoenix and Bhambayi instead of using race to further their
own political ambitions.
After the July uprisings, Bishop Philip joined
community, religious, social leaders and the KwaZulu-Natal provincial
government in promoting greater inter-action between the communities of Bhambayi
and Phoenix. He said during a recent march
through the two areas organised by the Council, the people of the two communities
expressed their willingness to work together to overcome poverty and
under-development of their areas.
In addition to Steve Biko,
Bishop Philip during his involvement in the black consciousness movement worked
with other activists of the calibre of Barney Pityana, Dr Mamphele Ramphele,
Harry Ngengkulu, Ben Khoapa, Strini Moodley and Stanley Ngwasa.
Bishop Philip continued with
his socio-economic activist work ever since he became a Minister in the
Anglican Church in the late 1960s and heightened this involvement when he linked
up with the Diakonia Council of Churches in the early 1970s.
When he was anointed as Bishop
of KwaZulu-Natal in 1995, he continued with his socio-economic work. He worked
with inter-faith organisations in the promotion of peace, secularism,
tolerance, solidarity, and against all forms of racism and inequalities.
Bishop Philip told me in an
interview that the recent disturbances are an indication that “we have a long
way to go in developing our people”.
“Political freedom in our
constitution has got to work itself out in touching the lives of ordinary South
Africans whether they are in Phoenix, Bhambayi, KwaMashu, Chatsworth, Umlazi, or
anywhere else.”
“I think we have not tackled
seriously the issue of race relations. Instead of becoming a stronger
non-racial community, there are people within our society who have used race to
gain economic benefits and political power. This has divided people along
racial lines. The challenge for us is to turn this around.”
He said this situation of
racism has reared its ugly head despite the enormous amount of work that has
been done over the past three decades to promote greater human rights values
among the people.
“There are still a number of
organisations and individuals who are promoting greater respect among the
people. However, given some of the tensions we are seeing at the moment, it is
very clear not enough is being done. I think we all have a responsibility to
overcome the distrust.
“We cannot point a finger at
any one or blame other people. We mustn’t forget our past that apartheid
divided us along racial ghettos.
“It’s still there. We don’t
have to dig too much. So, it requires a bit of humility among all of us, it
requires for us to contribute to building the non-racial South Africa that we
sacrificed our lives for. Socio-economic development of the poor and
marginalised must be our priority now.” Ends – subrygovender@gmail.com
Oct 8 2021
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