Media Statement of the Church Leaders' Forum, under the auspices of the South African Council of Churches, regarding the recent right-wing bombings.

The Church Leaders' Forum, under the auspices of the South African Council of Churches, having met at the Airport Conference Centre in Johannesburg today (Friday), and having thoroughly deliberated on the recent right-wing bombings in Soweto and other parts of the country, concluded that the violence and acts of terror that have been unleashed on our people was the work of a fascist movement masquerading as a religious movement.

As a result of this, the forum roundly condemns these acts of terror and violence as being contradictory to the values of the Gospel and love of Christ, and called on all Christians to condemn the acts of terror that resulted in the destruction of the mosque in Soweto.

We have to express our solidarity with our Muslim brother and sisters who place of worship was destroyed by these fundamentalists, the forum said in a statement. The forum placed on record that it did not believe that this was a "white-black" thing, but a move by faceless fanatics who could not deal with challenges facing the new non-racial and democratic South Africa.

The government has a major role to play on how it portrays religion in its utterances. Any suggestion that the government could be adopting an anti-religion stance in its business of governance, was likely to play into the hands of the fanatics who would be too willing to propagate the notion that the government was "anti-Christ"

The forum made a special plea to political parties, especially those who were skeptical about the efficacy of our reconciliation process, to be more circumspect, and rally around the government to stamp out the right wing threat. This is no time to be scoring cheap political points, but to rally around the government to defuse this volatile situation.

The forum also urged the people of this country to support security agencies seeking to track down the right wing grouping, and should seethe rod blocks that may be launched during the period leading to Christmas not as a nuisance, but a necessary effort to clamp down on those bent on act of violence.

The forum was of the mind there was no basis, or evidence link the acts of terror on our people by these right wing groupings to any Afrikaner religious or cultural movements. Given these considerations, the forum pledged its solidarity with the Afrikaners, and said that there was no reason to believe that Afrikaners have not embraced changes taking place in the country.

A march of solidarity is planned for December 15 where all religions are expected to march together and show commitment to fight the scourge of violence and fanaticism.

Issued by
Church Leaders' Forum
Johannesburg
29 November 2002