The inconclusive result of the recent South African election is a great opportunity for the gospel, an evangelical leader says.
The vote means that the African National Congress (ANC) will invite other political parties to form a government of national unity. The ANC, whose leader is President Cyril Ramaphosa, has been in power since the end of apartheid in 1994. But Siegfried Ngubane, Presiding Bishop of the Reformed Evangelical Anglican Church of South Africa (REACH SA) is optimistic when it comes to evangelism.
Ramaphosa called for a national dialogue to help rebuild social cohesion in South Africa, after what he called a ‘toxic and divisive’ election campaign.
The ANC only took a 40% share, with the centre-right Democratic Alliance (DA) getting 22%, the MK party of former President Jacob Zuma won 15% and the radical Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) 9%.
Ngubane told en: ‘This year’s elections were highly contested and revealed a lot of cracks in our society. The lesson is that people have lost faith and hope, especially in the ruling party, which has many divisions and different factions.
‘For the first time in 30 years, no party – national and provincial – had an outright win. While there is a lot of fear and frustration in the talks about the coalition government, it represents a beautiful opportunity for our country and the church in South Africa. Firstly, the lesson is that, although it’s a Christian thing to be involved with the affairs of our politics through exercising one right to choose a government, we do not put our hope and faith into politics. Or political parties and politicians. Our faith and hope is, instead, in God.
‘Secondly, the dividedness that has clearly shown itself merely reflects our society, which is still very much divided by specific ideologies and people groups. In a country that claims to be more than 75% Christian, the opportunity to build unity can only be achieved through the gospel and faith in Christ. What a great opportunity we have as the church in South Africa!’
