BiAS 7 – The Bible and Politics in Africa
whether we succeed or fail. What I have said relates directly to what needs to
be done to achieve the objective that Nelson Mandela set the nation, to ac-
complish the RDP of the Soul”. Thabo Mbeki (ANC 2007b:1)Liberation Brought Us a Packet of Problems
The first part of the policy document, headed “Liberation Brought Us a
Packet of Problems”, analyses the “packet of problems” liberation
brought the ANC, under the following sub-headings: “The RDP”, “Lack
of experience”, “The Population Explosion”, “The Dictatorship of Capi-
tal”, “The Western imperialist empire”, “Corruption”, “Crime”, and “The
Media” (ANC 2007b:1-3).^8 While there is no explicit or implied reference
to religion in the analysis under the first three sub-headings, there is
under the remaining sub-headings. Under the sub-heading of “The
Dictatorship of Capital” the document states that “An economic system
which allows dictators to administer capital without responsibility to
anyone is wrong in principle for those who believe in the spirit of de-
mocracy” (ANC 2007b:1). This general ethical statement is then followed
by a more religion specific statement: “To maintain that it is a legitimate
human right to accumulate wealth through a system condemning the
majority of our citizens to poverty is totally illegitimate. It is condemned
by religious prophets, humanists and economists alike” (ANC 2007b:1-
2). Already we can discern the shape of this policy document’s take on
religion. First, though the Document takes Mbeki’s moral perspective as
its starting point, there is definite recognition of the systemic nature of
wealth accumulation. Here morality is about more than individual re-
sponsibility; morality is also about systems, especially economic sys-
tems. However, as we will see later on in the argument of the Docu-
ment, the Document refuses to take sides on economic systems, imagin-
ing that the kind of religion envisaged will take South Africans beyond
both capitalism and socialism. In this respect the argument of the
Document sounds similar to the argument of “Church Theology” (theo-
logians 1986:28).
As a second distinctive feature, the Document is careful to refrain from
privileging any one religious tradition. An inclusive and broad under-
standing of ‘religion’ is deployed here, including even “the spirit of de-
mocracy” and “humanists” in its range. The systemic dimensions of
(^8) The use of upper and lower case in sub-headings is not consistent. I have reproduced
the usage in the document.