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AndrÉ Bartlett

Beyers Naudé: Scapegoat and Vulnerable Hero

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ABSTRACT

CF Beyers Naudé (1915-2004) was not a fictional hero from literature, but a real-life person. In the literature about the struggle against the system of apartheid in South Africa he is portrayed as one of the crucial figures who helped to bring about the demise of this system and indeed as one of the heroes in this struggle. Born and brought up in the Afrikaner community he was destined to become one of the leaders in the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa and in the Afrikaner-Nationalist movement. In the early 1960’s he experienced a crisis of conscience and came out strongly against the immorality of apartheid and against the Dutch Reformed Chuch’s support and theological justification of apartheid. This led to his being ostracised not only from his position of leadership in the church but also from the structures of Afrikaner society.

Being forced to leave the fold of Afrikaner-Nationalism he entered a vulnerable phase of his life in which he was progressively targeted and demonised as a traitor to the cause of his people. In this phase of his life he began to play a meaningful role as a bridge figure between white and black opponents of apartheid in South Africa, building understanding and trust between various sectors of a divided society.

His anti-apartheid activity led to the banning of the Christian Institute of which he was the director, but also to his own banning from 1977 to 1984. During these years he was under a form of house arrest and prevented from attending all public meetings and from being in the presence of more than one person at a time.

After the lifting of his banning orders he was appointed as General-Secretary of the South African Council of Churches and played a major role in the mobilisation of churches in the final struggle against apartheid. An important aspect of his involvement in this phase of the struggle was to promote a spirit of non-violent resistance - not always with success.

In the paper that I propose to deliver I want to look at two sets of literature: (1) that coming from  Afrikaner-Nationalist circles in which Beyers Naudé was treated in classical way a scapegoat that needed to be removed to ensure the social cohesion of apartheid society; and (2) that coming from anti-apartheid circles in which the role of Beyers Naudé as promotor of greater tolerance and reconciliation between the racial groups in South Africa is described. I would also want to explore the contrast between power and vulnerability and the way in which a position vulnerablity can in fact be more powerful than being in a position where formal power is exercised.

De Gruchy, JW 1979. The Church Struggle in South Africa. Cape Town: David Philip.

International Commission of Jurists (eds) 1975. The Trial of Beyers Naudé. Christian Witness and the Rule of Law. London.

Ryan, C 2005. Beyers Naudé. Pilgrimage of Faith. Cape Town: David Philip. 2^nd edition.

www.academic.sun.ac.za/tsv/Centres/beyers_naude_sentrum  (The Beyers Naudé Centre for Public Theology, University of Stellenbosch)

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André Bartlett

Born in Pretoria, South Africa, on March 21 1958.

Awarded the degrees BA, BA (Hons), BD and DD at the University of Pretoria.  

Did course work at the Faculty of Continued Education, University of Oxford, and at the Ecumenical Institute Bossey, Geneva.  

Minister of the Dutch Reformed Church (1987- ). Currently serving in the Aasvoëlkop congragation where Beyers Naudé served from 1959-1963.  

Chairperson of the South African Council of Churches (Gauteng Province)  

Chairperson of the Ecumenical Commission, Dutch Reformed Church, Highveld Synod.  

Member of the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (SA Academy for Science and Arts).  

Introduced to the work of René Girard by James Alison and Giles Fraser (Wadham College, Oxford).