BISHOP RUBIN PHILIP – A PROGRESSIVE CHURCH LEADER AND A FORMER BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS ACTIVIST WHO MADE AN INVALUABLE CONTRIBUTION TO POLITICAL AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION

A RADIO DOCUMENTARY COMPILED IN SEPTEMBER 2008 ABOUT HIS LIFE, HIS POLITICAL VIEWS AND THE NEED FOR A FORUM TO WORK WITH THE RULING ANC BY SUBRY GOVENDER

(BISHOP RUBIN PHILIP WITH THE LATE PADDY KEARNEY AND VETERAN ACTIVIST, SWAMINANTHAN GOUNDEN) Bishop Rubin Philip, who retired in December 2015 as head of the Anglican Church in KwaZulu-Natal, is one of the leading activists who has made an invaluable contribution to the political and social transformation of South Africa as a progressive leader of the church and a former black consciousness leader. Bishop Philip participated in the struggles without any fanfare and publicity. Born into a working-class family in the historical district and close-knit community of Clairwood, south of Durban, in March 1948, Philip started at a young age to question the desperate conditions under which his parents and other families had to survive at that time. The grand-son of indentured labourers who came from the Telegu-speaking area of the former Madras Presidency of south India, Bishop Philip's political awareness and involvement took root in 1969 at the age of 20, when he travelled to the town of Alice in the Eastern Cape to study to become a priest at the Federal Theological College, near the Fort Hare University. Here he met BC leader Steve Biko and became his close associate. This relationship strengthened when in 1971 he returned to Durban where Biko was studying medicine at the Natal University. His active involvement in the social and political transformation of the country deepened after he was appointed an Anglican Priest in Wentworth and became involved with the Diakonia Council of Churches. He became fully involved after the 1976 Soweto uprisings and led many struggles through the Diakonia Council of Churches and the Anglican Church of South Africa. The attainment of freedom in April 1994 came about, not only through the struggles of people involved in the political arena, but also through the struggles by religious leaders such as Bishop Philip. In 2008 I interviewed Bishop Philip about his life, his views about the state of affairs in the country and the need for a progressive voice or forum to work with the ruling ANC.