St Antony's Activists - Historical Papers - University of the

121 Pages·2009·1.79 MB·English

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 [phone]
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
CONTENTS Light Coming in the Morning
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
The Culmination
2. The Turning Point that Might Have Been ………..…………………………………5
25. Carrying the Cross - 1990 ………………………………………………………..179
3. St Alban's And St Anthony's Mission ……….……………………………………9
26. Let Us Make the World an Alleluia! ……………………………………………..188
4. Exploring – 1974 ………...………………….……………...……………………...12
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
4. The Secular Mission of the Church ………………………………………………197
From Church to World
5. Members and Associate Members of St Antony's ………………………………..198
9. After "Soweto" - 1976 ………...…………………………...………………………51
6. Glossary …………………………………………………………………………..203
10. Change of Direction - 1977 ………………………………………………………..59
7. Acronyms ………………………………………………………………………....205
11. Going it alone – 1978 ……………………………………………………………...71
MAPS
Nonviolent Direct Action for Social Change
1. Pageview and Environs …………………..……………………………………….20
12. Action at Last - 1979 ………………………………………………………………81
2. Greater Johannesburg …………………………………………………………...…22
13. Some Arresting Events - 1980 …………………………………………………….95
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
activists and have moved into more comfortable modes may be reminded of the sacrifices
Dorothy Steele for reading the proofs.
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. For the 1999
toe-hold for some who would long since have left the Church, and we said goodbye to equivalent value multiply the figure given by the number following it in brackets ( ).
them without recrimination.
This story frequently uses terms from the Presbyterian system of Church government and
This book is a sequel to "The Small Beginning", the story of North End Presbyterian some-times the Congregational system. If you are not familiar with these please first read
Church in East London through the years 1962 to 1970. St Antony's was not merely a Appendix 1. Appendix 6 provides a Glossary of other terms and Appendix 7 provides a
sequel in time, however. It grew out of and far beyond that small beginning. For List of Acronyms.
comparison I occasionally refer back to that East London experience. North End was an
Most ministers dream of serving the ideal congregation. St Antony's developed into
endeavour at integration within the Presbyterian Church. But St Antony's story will
something beyond any ideal that I could have dreamed of. I'm grateful that I could have 16
oscillate between events inside and outside the institutional church. This interaction with
years of this ideal before my ministry ended and strength ebbed. Most men dream of the
the world is the essence of its activism.
ideal wife. What I have just said of St Antony's can also be said of the woman who
There are some remarkable personal stories to tell. At points I take excursions following accompanied me through those years - and the other 29 before and since!
the lives of these activists or the consequences of their actions, through the years, rather
than expecting readers to pick up the fragments of each person's story as they go through
the book. “(cid:147)” marks the end of each excursion. My account is not meant to glorify these

activists. Any honour really belongs to the One in whom they had faith.

As in the North End story, for the sake of historical accuracy and flavour and to avoid
distortion due to later insights, I quote as much as possible directly from my occasional
diary, News Letters, press articles, correspondence, Church Council Minutes and recorded
sermons. These direct quotations enable the reader to enter into the adventure as it
unfolded. For clarity they appear in different print styles. My diary and the News letters
which I wrote are in italics and quotations from other sources are in smaller type. They
retain the then current racial, sexist and political terms. Explanatory editorial additions to
these records are in square brackets [ ]. I hope these live fragments break any monotony in
a story told in retrospect.
For reference these diaries and other records are lodged in the Archives of the University
of the Witwatersrand among other material of the Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa
(Ref No Fi 5. 5. 39b. 1-7).
You will read a lot about nonviolence in this story. Those years were for me a learning
experience in this form of social action and it became part of the ethos of St Antony's. The
single word “nonviolence” is now used to convey a positive concept in place of the
negativeness of “non-violence”. I retain the hyphen where it appears in quotations.
x xi
The Small
Beginning
St Anthony’s Activists At The Turning Point
1. AT THE TURNING-POINT

Thoughtful people knew it had to come. Those with an ear to the ground predicted it days
before it happened.
On that Wednesday morning, 16th June 1976, my wife Gert was at a function in a
sheltered employment workplace in Orlando East, Soweto. Across the valley in Orlando
West the turning-point in South Africa's history had been reached as Brigadier "Rooi Rus"
Swanepoel ordered the police to open fire on demonstrating students who had answered
teargas with stones.
The Rev John Thorne, Congregational Church minister with an ear nearer the ground than
ours, phoned me about 11 o'clock to say that in Soweto 25 youngsters had been shot dead.
Gert (short for Gertrude) came home at noon, unaware of what was happening.
That Saturday Richard Gqotso, Presbyterian minister in Orlando, took me round Soweto to
see the burned-out Bantu Administration Department (BAD) buildings and the torched
buses, banks and bottle-stores.
The next morning St Antony's small congregation gathered for worship in its Pageview
building. Namedi Mphahlele, Presbyterian minister living in Klipspruit, was there with a
school principal from Soweto. Black students were there too. None had been involved in
the actual march that triggered the event but all were alive with excitement and
indignation. During every service we shared news. This day people from outside Soweto,
whites, blacks and Coloureds, listened to the Sowetans' assessment of what was afoot.
The Principal explained how teachers had advised the Department of Bantu Education that
they were inadequate for teaching half their subjects through the medium of Afrikaans, but
were told they had better knuckle down and do it. Likewise parents had complained, only
to be told that this was an academic matter and had nothing to do with them. Only then did
the students become involved and now the battle was joined.
Thank God, we were in the right community, a small but city-wide inter-racial Christian
fellowship, developed in anticipation of major change.
The student revolt spread through the country over the next few months. "This day will be
remembered as the El Alamein of the black man's struggle for this country", I told the
August meeting of the Johannesburg Presbytery. (El Alamein is the tiny railway siding
3
St Anthony’s Activists At The Turning Point St Anthony’s Activists The Turning Point That Might Have Been
next to the Qatara Depression in Egypt where the Allied forces in World War 2 turned
2. THE TURNING-POINT
back the German and Italian armies of Field Marshal Rommel.)
Years later Alan Paton and Ahmed Kathrada, better judges than I, marked that day as the THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN
point at which black power surfaced and white power started to decline, the day when
black children in Paton's words decided that "they would not be treated as the conquered
any more" (Readers' Digest, August 1988 p.27). Remarkably it was also the calendar

antipode of the 16th December, the day the Boers observed as the turning-point in their
struggle. "In reply to your application, I have to advise you that it is not the policy of the African
National Congress to enrol European members. We suggest you apply to join our Alliance
On 16th December 1975, the Minister of the Interior, Dr Connie Mulder, had said
partners, the Congress of Democrats."
prophetically that the next two years would be more important for Southern Africa than the
Great Trek! I doubt if he anticipated what actually happened. It was 1959. I had great admiration for Chief Albert Luthuli, then President of the ANC, as
a Christian committed to non-violence. Believing also that the ANC would play a decisive
The Presbytery of Johannesburg had given St Antony's three years, starting January 1975,
role in the future of South Africa and that I should be involved, I had applied to their Port
to prove its validity and viability. The Soweto uprising happened half way through that
Elizabeth branch for membership. This was the gist of their reply. ANC spokespersons
period. What follows is the story of that congregation and its eventual 16 years of
sometimes speak of the organisation "always being non-racial" but it was 1985, at its
adventure far beyond what was envisaged in the initial three years. Its life spanned the
Kabwe Conference, before this racial exclusiveness was actually abandoned.
period between the June 1976 and February 1990 turning-points in South Africa’s history.
But it was not a reaction to them. Both were anticipated, as you will see. This response made me realise that I already belonged to a racially defined organisation
the Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa (PCSA) - and that my efforts must begin there
However, I must first refer back to what could have been an earlier turning point in South
in the hope of contributing to political and social change in our country.
Africa's history and to what Gert and I were doing at that earlier time.
Yes, the PCSA, although "multi-racial", still defined its congregations as European,

Coloured, and Indian, with African Missions functioning under a Committee and in terms
of a separate chapter in the constitution of the church. (See Appendix 1 for a description of
the Presbyterian and Congregational Church systems of government).
What does a young idealist do about this? Complain at the General Assembly, agitate,
write letters to "The Leader", the PCSA's periodical at the time? Or does he blow apart the
congregation where he is serving? Years later I realised that through the guidance of God
and the wisdom of my wife we chose instead what Gandhi called a "constructive
programme".
It was Gandhi's civil disobedience which caught world attention, but before that started in
India he had persuaded the Indian National Congress to adopt a Constructive Programme
to build a self-reliant country, independent of British rule. It involved, for example,
communal unity to end untouchability and the inequality of women; self-reliance through
village industries; promotion of health and the development of a new and basic education
system; labour unions and economic equality; the development of a national language.
Civil disobedience was not his main purpose. It was used only to remove obstacles in the
way of the programme.
4 5