Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba.
PHOTO: ER Lombard, Gallo Images
- Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba said government leaders should fix the real problems instead of fighting party infighting.
- He said that the root of the country’s problems lies in the scandalous gap between rich and poor.
- makgoba He said South Africans should be grateful to leaders like Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu for guiding us to a better future.
Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba has warned that if the government fails to fix the country’s “real problems” it will have to pay for it at the polls.
He said South Africans have also heard of leaders’ sacrificial service and the use of political influence to ensure personal and family advancement.
“South Africans need their government to focus on solving the real problems of the country – unemployment and loss of charge among themselves – and not on internal party bickering,” Makgoba said in his midnight mass sermon at the Cathedral. George’s in Cape Town.
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He said the root of the country’s problems lies in the “scandalous” gap between rich and poor.
“We won political liberation almost 30 years ago, but we haven’t achieved economic liberation, that’s the biggest problem we face,” Makgoba said.
Makgoba added:
And if politicians don’t address it, they will pay for it at the polls.
Makgoba, who was in Lviv, Ukraine last week, used most of his sermon to address the Russian invasion of that country.
He said African governments could make their voices heard in international affairs by standing up to be counted in this war.
The South African government has refused to condemn Russia or participate in multilateral condemnations of the invasion.
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At the United Nations, South Africa continued to promote its “neutral” stance, abstaining from voting on key resolutions condemning Russia’s aggression and demanding the country’s immediate withdrawal from Ukraine.
“If we want our own rights to be guaranteed, we have to defend the rights of others. If we want to resist authoritarianism, we have to resist its practice everywhere,” he said.
“We cannot preach the ideals and values of constitutionalism and then do business with those who flagrantly violate human rights.
“We cannot talk about a common humanity and be comfortable with systems of government that ensure that some elites are more equal than others.
“We cannot depend on the institutions to protect our rights and the fabric of order if we do not confront those who promote disorder and break international norms and rules.”
He added that South Africans should be grateful to leaders like Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu for guiding the country towards a better future.
