Category: Provincial Notices

[Updated] The disciplinary tribunal of the Anglican Diocese of Cape Town which has held hearings into charges – including sexual assault, sexual harassment and sexual immorality- against the Revd Melvin Booysen, delivered its judgement on Thursday September 30. A webcast of the judgement can be viewed below. The full text of the judgement is also available.

The principles underlying the Church’s annual budget were laid out in the form of a slide presentation by the Provincial Treasurer, Rob Rogerson, at the meeting of the 2021 Provincial Synod.

See the presentation here:

The Electoral College of Bishops met virtually today to elect new bishops for the vacant dioceses of Kimberley & Kuruman and Lesotho.

The bishops elected to translate the Right Revd Brian Marajh of George to become the Bishop of Kimberley & Kuruman.

They also elected the Revd Canon Dr Vicentia Kgabe, Rector of the College of the Transfiguration, as Bishop of Lesotho.

Please pray for Bishop Marajh and Dr Kgabe, their families and their dioceses as they prepare for their installation and consecration respectively.

Sincerely in Christ,

THE REVD DR MAKHOSI NZIMANDE
Provincial Executive Officer

The Agenda books containing full details and proposals for the 2021 Provincial Synod, to take place from September 21 to 24, are available on the Provincial Synod page here >>>

The Lectionary for 2022  will be available by the week of 4^th October 2021. 

Please place your order with your diocesan office or local bookshop  ( if this is how you usually order)  OR  send an email  to orders@anglicanchurchsa.org.za

We will send a quote for the amount due and send the order on receipt of payment (after 4 October 2021).

Note this year the Lectionary will be available in TWO FORMATS

1.  Soft cover printed edition @ R30 per copy

      Available in English and isiXhosa

2.    e-book edition  @ R25 per copy.

For  the electronic book you need to order via the ACSA website –

 go to

www.anglicanchurchsa.org/publications →  to Lctionary 2022

chose e-book option,

complete all the details needed

send an EFT in payment (use your surname as a reference)

 and the book will be emailed to you.

Remember both formats available from week of 4^th October 2021.

Kind regards

Canon Cynthia Botha

ACSA Publishing Committee

One of the legal teams in the Diocesan Tribunal hearings considering an allegation of rape against a Cape Town priest has asked for more time to submit their closing arguments.

As a consequence, the release of the Tribunal’s judgement will be delayed until a date still to be determined in the second half of September.

Tribunal of the Diocese of Cape Town

Update – September 4:

This week saw new developments in this matter:

1. The High Court in Cape Town declined to issue an order preventing the complainant from naming the defendant on social media. The church was not involved in this hearing. (The defendant’s name was already in the public domain in the church’s own proceedings.) The Safe and Inclusive Church Commission issued this short comment in response to media inquiries about the case: “The Church was not involved in the High Court case which was brought by the Reverend Melvin Booysen against the Reverend June Major and we ask that you contact Mr Booysen’s lawyer, for comment. Additionally, due to the ongoing work of the tribunal, it would be inappropriate for us to comment. The Church remains focused on publishing the verdict of the Tribunal it held into the alleged rape reported by Rev June Major towards the end of September.”
2. The heads of argument filed by lawyers for the Diocese of Cape Town’s Presenter of the charges against the defendants, and for the defendant, are available at the following link: https://bit.ly/38zJhgI

The Revd. Canon Dr John Stubbs died in Orland Park, Illinois, on August 16, aged 68. He was living in retirement in the United States, where he had married again, to Barbara. The Archbishop wrote this letter of condolence to the members of his family:

I write to you to convey the Anglican Church of Southern Africa’s condolences on John’s death last week.

Mkhululi Duncan, Paul and Khuthaza: going back to the days when your parents – John and Nommso – were pioneers in ministry together, your father was a faithful servant of the Church in Southern Africa.

After having to leave South Africa, and studying and serving the church in the United States, he returned to make a substantial contribution to the Province as Dean of Studies from 1991 until 1999. He then went on to serve in the historically significant position as Dean of Grahamstown at the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. George.

From the tributes published in the United States, he clearly continued to endear himself to his congregants in New York and Massachusetts.

We are proud in this Province to read, in an obituary published in the US, that in that country also, “John spoke out against racism and indifference to those in need. He was actively involved in issues and movements of civil rights, peace and community service. He made space for those hurting, the under-represented, and the discounted. He was also an advocate of women’s ordination.”

May you feel the strength of God’s comfort as your mourn his loss and celebrate his life.

May John rest in peace and rise in glory

Yours in Christ’s service

++Thabo Cape Town

The Tribunal completed the hearing of evidence yesterday and will consider its judgement upon receipt of heads of argument from the respective legal representatives. Judgement is expected during September.

Tribunal of the Diocese of Cape Town

Kindly be informed that the Elective Assembly of the Diocese of Swaziland has delegated the election of its new Bishop to the Synod of Bishops.

Please keep the Diocese and the Synod of Bishops in your prayers.

Sincerely in Christ,

THE REVD DR MAKHOSI NZIMANDE
Provincial Executive Officer

A letter from the Archbishop to the Bishop of False Bay, the Right Revd Margaret Vertue:

Dear Bishop Margaret

I write to convey the condolences of the Diocese of Cape Town and of the Province to you and your Diocese upon hearing the sad news of the death of Bishop Merwyn Castle.

Bishop Merwyn was known to us all as a gentle, caring soul who loved the Church deeply and cared for her people tirelessly. In various capacities, including Dean of Johannesburg, Chaplain to the then Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Bishop-Suffragan of Cape Town, he was an example of humility and self-sacrifice. Persecuted at times for an aspect of his identity which he did not choose – his sexual orientation – he bore the resulting suffering with dignity and forbearance.

However, the principal legacy for which the Church will remember him is his establishment of the Diocese of False Bay, and his election as the first Bishop of your Diocese. It was in this role until his retirement that the finest qualities of his ministry came to full fruition. It was no doubt partly in response to his gentle shepherding that such a diverse Diocese became a pioneer in South Africa and the Province in electing you as his successor.

May Merwyn’s dear soul rest in peace and rise in glory.

++Thabo Cape Town

The Province mourns the death of Chabopye Freddy Pilusa, who served as President of the Anglican Students’ Federation in 1992 and 1993.

He studied at the University of the Western Cape, and went on to work at the South African Council of Churches.

More recently, he was widely known as a communications consultant, and was adviser and spokesperson for a number of prominent South Africans.

We celebrate his life, and extend our deepest condolences to his family.

May he rest in peace, and rise in glory.

SOCIAL PROTECTION IN A TIME OF COVID: LESSONS FOR BASIC INCOME SUPPORT

Commissioned by the Black Sash

(Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, after attending a webinar on this subject, recommends this paper as informative.)

Executive Summary

The Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant (Covid-19 SRD) was introduced in South Africa in May 2020 to mitigate the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. It provided for people between 18 and 59 years of age, who had no income nor access to any other form of social assistance.

This was an unprecedented moment in the history of social security in South Africa, initiated under enormous pressure in a remarkably short space of time. It drew people who had previously been excluded from the social grant programme, namely those aged 18 to 59 years, into the social protection network, creating a platform for Basic Income Support in the future.

And yet, the Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant was not perfect. The R350 amount was not linked to an objective measure of poverty, and fell well below the food poverty line (R585). There were also many challenges of exclusions and inequitable access, particularly for women, foreign nationals, and people living in rural areas. This qualitative study, conducted in all nine provinces, has sought to understand how the Covid-19 SRD Grant was distributed and how people experienced its distribution. We hope these consolidated learnings inform the development and implementation of Basic Income Support in the near future.

Download the full paper below: