09160
March 3, 2009

South African cleric Allan Boesak to stand for ANC breakaway in elections

by Munyaradzi Makoni
Ecumenical News International

CAPE TOWN ― The former president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and South African anti-apartheid activist, Allan Boesak, has said he will contest elections for a party that has broken away from the country’s ruling African National Congress.

Boesak announced on Feb. 27 that he will run for the premiership of the Western Cape province, one of nine in South Africa, in national and provincial elections set for April 22. His decision came after he initially said he was not available to contest the post for the  Congress of the People (COPE).

He said he had changed his mind due to “The intense appeal from ordinary people of the province from all communities to make myself available once again, to recognize the historic moment before us and to help bring about the changes we as a nation desperately need now.”

The COPE party was formed in December 2008 after Thabo Mbeki was forced to step down as South Africa’s president three months earlier. It announced on Feb. 20 that its candidate for president would be the Rev. Mvume Dandala, a former South African Methodist leader who stepped down at the end of 2008 as general secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches.

Penny Festus, Boesak’s spokesperson, said he accepted to stand after intense discussions with his family, members of the community, the party’s provincial and national leadership and other people, and many hours of reflection. Boesak said in the Feb. 27 statement that the continued support and understanding of his family had allowed him to reach the decision.

Boesak rose to prominence in the 1980s as a cleric and a leader of the anti-apartheid United Democratic Front. He was for a time also the chairperson of the ANC in the Western Cape. In 1984 he was the preacher for the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) and was a featured speaker at the dedication services for Louisville’s Presbyterian Center in 1988.

He served a jail term in 2000 after conviction of fraud and theft of donor funds. He was readmitted to church ministry in 2005 after being pardoned by then president Mbeki.

On Feb. 4 Boesak wrote a letter to COPE saying he was joining the party, declaring he was not going to seek public office but would seek to provide a “genuine alternative” to the ANC.

This refusal to seek a nomination had thrown COPE into a crisis after their choice of Russel Botman, a theologian and rector of Stellenbosch University, declined to stand in the elections citing work commitments.

Boesak’s involvement has been seen as helping COPE secure the votes of mixed race people, who in South Africa are called colored people, and whose votes are important in boosting party performance in the Western Cape elections.