ST ANTONY’S ACTIVISTS The Story of St Anthony’s United Church (Congregational & Presbyterian) Pageview, Johannesburg 1975-1990 R J D Robertson Cape Town 1999 First Published 1999 © R. J. D. Robertson 1999 Address: 1002 Atlantica, Loxton Rd., Milnerton, Cape Town 7441 Telephone (021) 552-6298 Dedicated to the All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval one hundred and fifty-eight system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, members and associate members recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the author. of St Anthony’s United Church whose faith turned dreams ISBN 0-620-24010-5 into deeds. Originally printed in South Africa by Salty Print, Cape Town. Typesetting by Nick Curwell. PDF version available online at: PDF generated by Hugh M., Ian N., and Pam I. Robertson 2008. By the same author: The Small Beginnings – the story of North End Presbyterian Church, East London 1962-1970. Published 1997. PDF version available online at: ii iii I pray that the example of St Antony's activists will be one of many, however small, to assist us to solve the problems of violence, bloodshed and warfare in the spirit of Jesus FOREWORD Christ. I am convinced that increasingly the world will turn to the philosophy, the example and the sacrifice of people like Gandhi, Martin Luther King and others to bring us the answer to this problem. by Dr C F B Naudé It is my hope and prayer that, inspired by this publication, a number of young people, including committed Christians, would set up discussion groups throughout the country regularly to debate, evaluate and engage in nonviolence as suggested in the closing chapter of this book in order to help the future generation to solve the problems of human conflict Rob Robertson, in his own quiet way, has made an outstanding contribution to the cause of without violence, bloodshed and warfare. pacifism in South Africa. Many of us, including myself, did not understand the full meaning of this concept till he, through his preaching, teaching and example, illustrated it to us. His ministry at St Antony's, Pageview, supported by that congregation, conveyed that message so clearly. I am thinking here of the way in which he treated and responded to the security police and to all of his adversaries. Many of them must have been flabbergasted by his response, simply because they did not understand the basic philosophy of nonviolence to which he, like Gandhi before him, had committed his life. I am deeply grateful that I can express in this foreword my appreciation of twice being invited to preach at St Antony's worship services when I was still under a banning order, knowing full well the possible implications that this action could have had for the Church Council and the minister, his wife and family. I am also expressing on behalf of the hundreds of worshippers at St Antony's our gratitude not only for the way Rob conducted the worship services, but also how he shared his deep conviction of non-violent resistance in the manner in which he led the activities of the congregation. If we contemplate more meaningfully the message and ministry of people like Rob Robertson, we slowly begin to understand the depth and significance of the message which his congregation as described in these pages conveyed through their life and ministry. It seems to me that it will take decades for the world fully to grasp the significance of the philosophy of non-violent resistance that Gandhi, followed by people like Rob and others, have demonstrated. If we look at the way in which nations, tribes and ethnic groups currently are attempting to resolve their conflicts by way of bloodshed and warfare, it becomes increasingly clear that none of them have the real answer to the need of rebuilding the world to ensure a peaceful future. Slowly but increasingly the world is beginning to realise that war brings no solution to our human problems. iv v Light Coming in the Morning CONTENTS 20. Sing, John Ball - 1986 ……………………………………………………………143 Page 21. The Word became Flesh …………………………………………………………154 Foreword………………………………………………………………………………..v - vi 22. State of Emergency - 1987 ……………………………………………………....158 Author's Note……………………………………………………………………….….ix - xi 23. Developments Galore - 1988 …………………………………………………….162 The Small Beginning 24. Turning Dreams into Deeds - 1989 ………………………………………………169 1. At the Turning Point ………….……………………………………………………..3 2. The Turning Point that Might Have Been ………..…………………………………5 The Culmination 3. St Alban's And St Anthony's Mission ……….……………………………………9 25. Carrying the Cross - 1990 ………………………………………………………..179 4. Exploring – 1974 ………...………………….……………...……………………...12 26. Let Us Make the World an Alleluia! ……………………………………………..188 5. Pageview – Fietas ……………………………….………………………..……….19 APPENDICES 6. Lift-off – 1975 ………..……………………………………………………………23 1. Forms of Church Government ……………………………………………………193 7. The Ethos of St Ant's ………..……………………..……...………………………33 2. Advance Conceptions of the Task ………………………………………………..194 8. Some Principles ………...……………………………….…………………………41 3. St Antony's Values ………………………………………………………………..196 From Church to World 4. The Secular Mission of the Church ………………………………………………197 9. After "Soweto" - 1976 ………...…………………………...………………………51 5. Members and Associate Members of St Antony's ………………………………..198 10. Change of Direction - 1977 ………………………………………………………..59 6. Glossary …………………………………………………………………………..203 11. Going it alone – 1978 ……………………………………………………………...71 7. Acronyms ………………………………………………………………………....205 Nonviolent Direct Action for Social Change MAPS 12. Action at Last - 1979 ………………………………………………………………81 1. Pageview and Environs …………………..……………………………………….20 13. Some Arresting Events - 1980 …………………………………………………….95 2. Greater Johannesburg …………………………………………………………...…22 14. Engaging the State - 1981 ………………………………………………………...103 15. "Branching Out" - 1982 …………………………………………………………111 16. The Rapids of History - 1983 …………………………………………………….119 17. Stubborn Ounces - 1984 ………………………………………………………….123 18. Wealth, Poverty and Change – 1985 (1) …………………………………………128 19. Naught for Your Comfort – 1985 (2) …………………………………………….135 vi vii AUTHOR’S NOTE Please read this first. Denis Beckett, of Frontline, Sidelines and Beckett's Trek fame, gives a micro-chip Acknowledgements description of this congregation where he was a regular attender: There was a church in Vrededorp - St Antony's..... It was multi-everything back when andersdenkendes were kommuniste, and its happy band of pioneers had no doubts Grateful thanks to: about our pioneerhood. We would overcome. We were before our time but in due course the nation would work as St Antony's worked - everybody trying to come to Dr.Margaret Nash and Denis Beckett who gave helpful criticism on content. terms with everybody. Marjorie Hope and James Young for permission to reproduce an extract from "The South This story is written for those happy pioneers in thankfulness for their companionship in a African Churches in a Revolutionary Situation". great adventure of faith. Some of them will shed tears as they read it! Some who were lean Dorothy Steele for reading the proofs. activists and have moved into more comfortable modes may be reminded of the sacrifices and high moral purpose of those days. I hope other interested readers will also gain Nick Curwell who designed the cover and set the type. something from it. It is also written by some of those pioneers. In the text I acknowledge the contributions that many of them have sent me. Some say nice things about my wife and myself, and Four impressions for illustrations have been taken from The Rand Daily Mail, one from there are also criticisms of my attitudes. I swallow both modesty and pride and include The Star, one from The Sunday Express and one from Die Beeld. The map on page 20 is some of each. And I was one of the activists, so please put up with reading many of what reproduced by kind permission of The Readers’ Digest of South Africa. my wife once called "silly escapades". The title, perhaps presumptuously, is meant to relate to the New Testament "Acts of the Apostles". Those apostles were not teachers of a new religion. They were people who acted because of their faith in Jesus. They often met under threat and surveillance, they travelled dangerous roads and were imprisoned, they healed and the largest portion of the book of Acts tells how they gently challenged the "powers that be". Not much is recorded of their sermons or their worship, nor of the many ordinary persons who made up their assemblies. The same applies to my story. Comparatively little is said of worship, sermons and prayers, but these were the regular diet from which the activists drew their strength and direction. Neither were all St Antony's members activists, but all supported those who viii ix were, even at the risk of a midnight visit from the Security Police. It is impossible to There were no static years at St Antony's. Each held its own adventures and I have mention everyone, but all members and associate members are listed in Appendix 5. arranged most chapters each to cover one year. Note that prior to 1975 the spelling is "St Anthony's" with the "h". Then it changes to "St Antony's". This will help the reader Remember too that this was a group of black and white people all at different stages in distinguish the two phases of this story. For short, members used to speak of "St Ant's". finding their way out of the apartheid mentality, and later out of male-dominated sexism. Many of the hymns we sang are reproduced here. Some were original or unfamiliar to There was much that we were slow to learn, and I will try to be honest about this. We were mainline churches. The music and complete words can be had on request from the author. also a congregation on the "frontier" of the Church. We were a first contact for some atheists, and about half those who joined had been "lapsed" Christians. We were also a last The value of the Rand changed considerably over the period 1975 to 1990.