Source: Wikipedia Commons

The region where the Republic of South Africa is located, the southern tip of Africa, has a long history of European settlement. Dutch settlers first arrived in the 17th century, and were followed in the 19th century by large numbers of English colonists. In 1987 the population of 27 million included 5 million white people. The country has a history of conflict between Dutch (Afrikaner) and English; between Afrikaner and black natives and among black nations. From 1948 until lthe early 1990s apartheid (separateness), was in place. This form of discrimination assigned the majority black population to ten "homelands," i.e., rural reserves, which make up 13 percent of the land. The blacks were citizens of these areas only, and their access to the rest of South Africa, including industrial centers, was restricted.

South Africa. World Factbook, 2006

Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) contacts within South Africa began in the mid-1960s. They grew out of interest sparked by the black passive resistance campaigns against apartheid. Difficulty in obtaining work permits stymied personnel placements in South Africa at that time, and instead MCC opened programs in neighboring countries. Some relationships with groups in South Africa continued from these neighboring programs.

In 1976 a request for assistance and personnel came to MCC from the Transkei Council of Churches (TCC), a regional body of the South African Council of Churches based in the black "homeland" area of the Transkei. Between 1978 and 1987, four couples served as MCC workers under the TCC, two in administrative support and staff training and two as rural development workers. In addition, three workers were sent to the TCC by Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission to work in the Council's program of Bible training for leaders of independent churches. In 1986 MCC also placed a couple in the Ciskei, another of South Africa's black homelands.

Mennonites were committed to supporting the church in South Africa as it struggled with issues of justice and violence. Important relationships continued with the Conscientious Objectors' movement, which grew after 1979; with the South African Council of Churches; and with other, smaller groups who sought to address the violence of that society. Mennonite workers struggled with what reconciliation meant in South Africa, where most of the people were oppressed by the government until Nelson Mandela came to power in 1994.

In 1987 a regional office was set up in Gaborone, Botswana, to administer the MCC South Africa program and to serve as a resource base for Mennonite programs and workers throughout the Southern Africa region (Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, and South Africa). Events in South Africa impinged on these neighboring countries, which were part of the same economic sphere.

In 2006 the Brethren in Christ Church in South Africa had 231 members in 7 congregations and the Grace Community Church in South Africa, a cluster of congregations centered in the small town of Philipstown, had 1,027 members in 7 congregations.

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 5, p. 765. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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