The Christian Contribution to the South African TRC
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Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository September 2015 New Paradigm for South Sudan: The hrC istian Contribution to the South African TRC Malith J. Kur The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Dr. Gary Badcock and Dr. Joanna Quinn The University of Western Ontario Follow this and additional works at: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Kur, Malith J., "New Paradigm for South Sudan: The hrC istian Contribution to the South African TRC" (2015). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. Paper 3175. This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. New Paradigm for South Sudan: The Christian Contribution to the South African TRC By Malith Kur Graduate programme in Theology A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Theology The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada © Malith Jongkuch Kur2015 Abstract The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was one of the most successful truth commissions of the twenty-first century. This thesis presents an analysis of Christian involvement in the South African TRC, with a view to suggesting how the South African experience might be adapted by the Churches in the South Sudanese situation. A contextual analysis of the information available on the South African TRCidentifies certain elements that could help South Sudan achieve peace and reconciliation, proposing that the South African model of reconciliation may possibly work well in South Sudan. It maintains, however, that for it to work in the South Sudanese situation, certain requirements will need to be met. These include the public transparency of its processes, the non-interference of political actors in its proceedings and procedures, and a clear commitment to the idea that any reconciliatory process must be a community-centred exercise. The Churches of South Sudan, it is argued, can have an important role in fostering such values in the South Sudanese process, and so in moving the country towards peace. Keywords Reconciliation, community, truth, amnesty, ethnic rivalry, nationality, social reconstruction, distributive justice, theology of reconciliation. ii Acknowledgments I would like to express my heart-felt thanks and gratitude to my advisors, Dr. Gary Badcock and Dr. Joanna Quinn for their tireless efforts in offering me invaluable advice from the start of this thesis to the finish. When I was lost in the writing process, they showed me the right way to go. I am also deeply grateful to the Anglican Church of Canada, to the Diocese of Huron, and to the Faculty of Theology at Huron University College for making funds available to support my visit to South Africa to collect information for writing this thesis. My visit to historical sites in South Africa enabled me to understand the dynamics of the reconciliation process in that country. iii Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents .......................................................................................................... iv List of Tables................................................................................................................ vii List of Figures ............................................................................................................. viii Chapter 1 .........................................................................................................................1 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................1 1.1 Objectives ............................................................................................................3 1.2 Methodology ........................................................................................................4 Chapter 2 .........................................................................................................................7 2 The Background of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Process .....................7 2.1 Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa .............................................................7 2.2 Theological Responses to Apartheid................................................................... 11 2.3 Barthian Theological Influences ......................................................................... 13 2.4 Barthian Truth and the South African TRC ........................................................ 19 2.5 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 26 Chapter 3 ....................................................................................................................... 28 3 The Amnesty Formula in the South African TRC ...................................................... 28 3.1 Christian Theology and the South African TRC Amnesty Formula..................... 30 3.2 Benefits of Amnesty to the South African Peace Process .................................... 35 iv 3.3 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 40 Chapter 4 ....................................................................................................................... 41 4 The Current State of Reconciliation in South Africa .................................................. 41 4.1 The South African Conception of Reconciliation................................................ 41 4.2 Economic Inequality, Land, and Reconciliation.................................................. 44 4.3 Politics of Land in Southern Africa .................................................................... 46 4.4 Land and Traditional African Faiths in South Africa .......................................... 50 4.5 The South African Transition and its Influence on Other Nations ....................... 53 4.6 Social Capital and the South African TRC ......................................................... 55 4.6.1 What is Social Capital? ........................................................................... 55 4.7 Conclusions ....................................................................................................... 57 Chapter 5 ....................................................................................................................... 60 5 The South African TRC and South Sudan ................................................................. 60 5.1 Why the South African TRC Model for South Sudan?........................................ 61 5.2 The Christian Church in South Sudanese History ............................................... 62 5.3 What can South Sudan learn and adopt from South African Experience of Reconciliation? .................................................................................................. 73 5.3.1 Reconstruction of the Legal System in South Sudan ............................... 74 5.3.2 The Road to South Sudanese National Reconciliation ............................. 75 5.4 The Church and the South Sudan Reconciliation Process ................................... 81 5.4.1 Design of South Sudan Truth and Reconciliation Process ....................... 84 5.4.2 Truth ...................................................................................................... 85 5.4.3 Reconciliation ........................................................................................ 85 5.4.4 Social Reconstruction ............................................................................. 86 5.5 South Sudan Amnesty ........................................................................................ 87 5.5.1 Amnesty and Community-to-Community Initiatives ............................... 89 v 5.6 Reparative Justice .............................................................................................. 91 5.6.1 Reparation and Economic Justice ........................................................... 92 5.6.2 Reparative Justice and Social Capital ...................................................... 95 5.6.3 Ecumenical Approach to Social Capital .................................................. 99 5.7 Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 101 5.8 Recommendations ............................................................................................ 102 Bibliography ................................................................................................................ 105 vi List of Tables Table 1: Catholic Mission schools ....................................................................................... 66 Table 2: Anglican and American Presbyterian Missions’ schools ........................................ 67 Table 3: Major Churches in South Sudan ...........................................................................100 Table 4: Religions in South Sudan .....................................................................................101