Churches in support of GLI - South Africa

Yesterday, I wrote of how churches are at the forefront of the basic income advocacy effort in Namibia, including the creation and direction of the basic income pilot project. In neighbouring South Africa, churches have also been active in the cause.

The South Africa BIG Coalition includes multiple church communities, including the South African Council of Churches, the South African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, the Anglican Church of the Province of South Africa, the Diakonia Council of Churches, the Dominican Order and Missionaries of Africa in South Africa. Several of these groups have also adopted resolutions in support of basic income.

Retired Archbishop of Cape Town, Desmond Tutu, is one of the prominent supporters of basic income. You can check out Archbishop Tutu addressing the BIEN conference of 2006 here on YouTube, explaining his support for the initiative.

Current Archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba has also endorsed basic income in a recent speech. “I am in solidarity with the needs of the poorest, the most vulnerable, the most marginalised; including the strangers, the foreigners, in our midst. I am in solidarity with available, affordable health-care for all. I am in solidarity with effective rural development. I am in solidarity with, why not, a Basic Income Grant.”

In a presentation to the 2006 BIEN conference, Thabisile Msezane, Senior Vice President of the South African Council of Churches spoke about the importance of basic income to people of faith. She highlighted the role the churches have played in South Africa:

In a nation where nearly 80% of the population identifies themselves as Christians, it will come as no surprise to learn that Churches have played a particularly key role. There have been several strands to this. Claudia and Dirk Harmann – who did the initial policy research on basic income in South Africa for COSATU… – came to the topic through the Lutheran Church in Namibia. South Africa’s Anglican Church adopted a resolution calling for something equivalent to a Basic Income Grant in 1998. Other churches, including the Methodist Church, have also endorsed the concept of basic income in one form or another. The South African Council of Churches joined the campaign in 2001, adopting a resolution of support at its triennial national conference and reiterating its position even more strongly in 2004, shortly after no less a person than President Thabo Mbeki tried to persuade delegates that a Basic Income Grant was both undesirable and unrealistic.

Msezane offers four reasons why it is important for people of faith to back basic income:

1. All people are created in the image of God and are therefore equally deserving of respect, dignity, care and protection.
2. We seek to enable and empower, rather than to stifle or be paternalistic.
3. We believe that families are and should continue to be the cornerstone of society.
4. We are called to respond compassionately to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

The South African churches view this as an opportunity to be prophetic, as they confront the challenges of building a new system of respect for diversity in a context of massive wealth inequality.