Laying an Axe to the Roots

An Advent Message from the KwaZulu-Natal Church Leaders Group

Luke 3:1-20 John the Baptist Prepares the Way

"A voice of one calling in the desert,
'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.
Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth.
And all humankind will see God's salvation.' "

During this season of Advent we are particularly aware of the coming of Christ into our lives, the breaking in of the Word of God into our society – to denounce, disrupt, challenge but also to bring hope: “thy kingdom come, thy will be done”.

Click here to read this document in word.

DIOCESE OF NATAL ANGLICAN CHURCH OF SOUTHERN AFRICA

http://www.isolezwe.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5266707

Olwasemijondolo lungenelelwe yiBandla lamaSheshi

November 30, 2009 Edition 1

CELANI SIKHAKHANE

ABEBANDLA lamaSheshi KwaZulu-Natal bathi bazosungula uphenyo oluzimele ngezigameko zokuhlaselwa kwabahlali basemijondolo yakuKennedy Road.

Leli bandla likusho lokhu ngemuva kokuzwakalisa ukunganeliseki ngendlela amaphoyisa aqhuba ngayo uphenyo ngokubulawa kwabantu okwenzeke ezinyangeni ezimbalwa kuleya mijondolo .

UMbhishobhi waleli bandla, uRuben Phillip, uthe ngenxa yokunganeliseki ngokuphenya kwamaphoyisa, sebethathe isinqumo sokuba bazisungulele bona uphenyo oluzimele noluzocacisa kabanzi ngokuhlukumezeka kwabantu kuleya mijondolo .

28 November 2009
Diakonia Council of Churches

'Produce the evidence’, demands Bishop Rubin Phillip

Anglican Bishop Rubin Phillip has demanded that the state provides evidence in the
case against the Kennedy Road 13, or release the accused.

Bishop Rubin Phillip was addressing about fifty people, mostly church leaders and family members of the Kennedy 13, who had gathered for a prayer service organised by Diakonia Council of Churches, at the Durban Magistrates’ Courts.

In a moving speech Bishop Rubin said, “What we are demanding from the state is that they provide the evidence that these men did wrong. If they did indeed do anything wrong, then prosecute them. If there is no evidence, release them now.”

http://www.witness.co.za/index.php?showcontent&global[_id]=31596

Churches want justice
25 Nov 2009
Jared Sacks

BISHOP Rubin Phillip, one of the most respected Christian leaders and anti-apartheid activists in South Africa, last week published a landmark statement calling the court proceedings of the Kennedy 13 “a moral and legal outrage that amounts to detention without trial by means of delay”. He has also used the words “kangaroo court”, “political agenda” and “a travesty of justice” to describe the legal process.

Grave Concerns about the Detention without Trial of the Kennedy Thirteen:

This Travesty Must End

18 November 2009

After their 6th inconclusive bail hearing today, it is now abundantly clear that the legal process for the Kennedy 13 is a complete travesty of justice. They are scheduled to appear again on the 27th November. By that time, some of accused will have been in prison for 2 months without trial - two months in prison without any evidence being presented to a court and without a decision on bail. This is a moral and legal outrage that amounts to detention without trial by means of delay. In our view, it borders on unlawful detention. I am, tonight, issuing a call for their immediate release - justice has been delayed far beyond the point at which it was clear that it had been denied.

Democracy Under Attack in Kennedy Road

I was torn with anguish when I first heard of the unspeakable brutality that has raged down on to the Kennedy Road shack settlement. In recent years I have spent many hours in the Kennedy Road settlement. I've attended meetings, memorials, mass ecumenical prayers and marches. I have had the honour of meeting some truly remarkable people in the settlement and the work of Abahlali baseMjondolo has always nurtured my faith in the power and dignity of ordinary people. I have seen the best of our democracy here. I have tasted the joy of real social hope here.

The article by Ndivhuwo wa ha mbaya from the KZN Housing Department, to which this is a response, is here and there is a pdf of the published version of this article here.

No Room for the Poor in our Cities?

by Bishop Rubin Phillip

Since the KwaZulu-Natal Slums Act was first mooted there has been tremendous concern about a piece of legislation that has been widely condemned as a return to apartheid legislation. This concern has been expressed by a large number of organisations and individuals beginning with the shack dweller’s movement Abahlali baseMjondolo and then including the churches and the Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing at the United Nations.

SPEECH DELIVERED TO: ABAHLALI BASEMJONDOLO EVENT FOR UNFREEDOM DAY

KENNEDY ROAD COMMUNITY HALL, CLARE ESTATE, DURBAN, KZN, 27TH APRIL 2008

BY BISHOP RUBIN PHILLIP, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF NATAL AND CHAIRPERSON OF THE KWA-ZULU NATAL CHRISTIAN COUNCIL

For many years the courage and dignity of our people under oppression was a light to the world.

There was a time when our country was a light to the world. But that light has grown so dim that there is a real danger of it being extinguished altogether.

Today millions of our people live in shacks in life threatening conditions, constantly at risk of fire and disease because they have no electricity or sanitation, while we build stadiums, casinos and theme parks.