Diocese of Grahamstown

Address by Bishop Thabo Makgoba to the Eastern Cape launch of the Moral Regeneration Movement, read on his behalf, 21 August 2007

Honourable MEC Ntantiso, honourable CEO of ECPCC and distinguished guests,

First my apologies for not being here, at this historic launch of the provincial Moral Regeneration Movement, I have a prior engagement in Pietermaritzburg. I want to start by reflecting on three pieces of information, in my brief talk today, viz.

The statement that I wrote to the Grocott’s Newspaper on Women’s Month with the passage from Judges 2: 11 – 19 and gospel passage from St Matthew 19:16-20. Reflecting on these three and the context in which we launch Moral Regeneration Movement in the Eastern Cape, we notice that criminality, unemployment and poverty are high, the gap between those that are rich those that are extremely poor even among us African people is increasing, and rural development is not on the agenda or if it is, there is lip service paid to it. National and International efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals are not obvious. All is not doom and gloom there are pockets of excellent and achievement in certain areas. However, the past backlogs and lack of intensified effort and will are undermining these achievements. All these create a society that is desperate, that is in a survival mode and can and will do anything to live. So talking about Moral Regeneration Movement is an anomaly, and very limited given these contexts. We should perhaps now be talking about the spiritual reconstruction of our society, for given the above, this is what is urgently needed.

For example in the book of Judges I have referred you to, there are a list of laws that should be adhered to and in the Gospel of Matthew, the rich young lawyer show us the dilemma of just keeping the moral code of conduct, knowing them but not practicing them. In this gospel passage, Jesus says, those who keep the moral codes and do not love their neigbour, and do not share their possessions and money justly and sacrificially are lacking. Thus it is about justice, which I describe as “love distributed”, an attitude of the heart and spiritual development that is key.

Therefore, it is my contention that we should now be talking about the spiritual reconstruction of our communities. For spirituality entails both morality and your responsibility and relationship to your neighbour, your God and yourself. I am strongly urging and encouraging this Provincial launch to put forward a spiritual reconstruction committee in our Province and not a Moral Regeneration Movement and I pledge myself and the people of the Diocese of Grahamstown, to continue to work for the spiritual upliftment of all the people of God in this Province, and especially for the mothers who die in childbirth and the infants who die soon, before they can even live.

May God bless you all.

+Thabo