On Monday, 6 October 2025, the President of Caritas Africa visited Khanya House, the headquarters of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC), as part of his official mission to strengthen Caritas structures and collaboration across the continent.

Monsignor (Mons) Pierre Cibambo Ntakobajira met in person with the SACBC Associate Secretary General Sr. Dominica Mkhize FSF, the Coordinating Secretary of the SACBC Department for the Laity Rev. Fr. Nhlanhla T. Mchunu, the SACBC Coordinator for Migrants, Refugees, and Human Trafficking Sr. Neide Lamperti MSCs, and with Bishop Stanislaw Dziuba OSPPE, Bishop of Umzimkulu and President of Caritas South Africa, who joined the meeting online.

Mons Cibambo explained that his visit followed his participation in the recent Plenary Assembly and Golden Jubilee of the Interregional Meeting of Bishops of Southern Africa (IMBISA) in Eswatini. “Last week I attended the plenary assembly of the IMBISA Bishops, which took place in Eswatini, and I had the chance to address the bishops on Caritas’ mission and identity and the need to organize it,” he said.

“And now I’m visiting Caritas South Africa. I spent a week in Cape Town and had the opportunity to see how Caritas is organized and rooted in the communities within the diocese. And I’ve just had the chance to meet with the team here at the National Secretariat of the Bishops’ Conference.”

The Caritas Africa president described the encounter at Khanya House as “a critical moment of sharing about the reality” of Caritas in South Africa. “I’m delighted to learn that what I saw in Cape Town is actually also happening in many other dioceses where Caritas is being organized,” he shared.

“This is very important, because even being the president of a network of 46 national members, I like very much to see that this organization is rooted in the community. It’s a kind of emanation of the community, for the service of the community — the most vulnerable in those communities,” he added.

Using a proverb familiar across the continent, Mons Cibambo captured the essence of Caritas’ community-based approach: “In Africa, we say that the pot starts to boil from the bottom. Boiling from the bottom is important. But the top is also important because it helps to make visible what is happening at the grassroots.”

He highlighted that Caritas Internationalis, of which Caritas Africa is a part, is “a confederation of 162 national members working in 200 countries and territories around the world.” The mission, he said, goes beyond emergency relief.”

He noted that Caritas strives to provide “humanitarian assistance to those who are needed in terms of emergencies,” and that Caritas also works “with the communities to empower them, to strengthen them so that they may take their destiny into their own hands,” as Caritas is “not an organisation which is there to give handouts” but an organisation that strives to accompany “the communities themselves so that they may take their destiny into their own hands.”

Mons Cibambo explained that Caritas’ mission includes advocacy as an integral part of addressing systemic challenges. “Whether we are dealing with emergencies, whether we are dealing with poverty, whether we are dealing with conflicts, there is a reason why we are having this problem,” he noted.

“So, in our mission, we prioritize also the fact that there is a need to address the root causes of poverty, of natural disasters, of conflicts. So that is the reason why Caritas is more and more also involved in advocating and amplifying the voice of the communities themselves,” he highlighted.

Recalling the words of Brazilian Bishop Dom Hélder Câmara, he said: “When I distribute food to the poor, they say I am a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they say I am a communist. And he said, I prefer to be a communist.” Mons Cibambo explained that this quote captures Caritas’s conviction that charity must also confront the root causes of suffering.

Turning to the structure of Caritas within the Church, he clarified that “Caritas has no monopoly on the service of charity in the Church.”

“Thank God there are many other actors who are also serving in the Church.” However, he continued, “As Pope Benedict said in the Motu Proprio Intima Ecclesiae Natura on the service of charity and its organization, Caritas is the opus proprium of the bishop. Caritas is an instrument of the bishop who presides over charity in his diocese and who has to care about organizing the service of charity in his diocese so that all those who are serving may be doing it according to the needs of the community.”

He stressed that Caritas’s role is to coordinate and unify the many charitable efforts within the Church. “Caritas needs to be organized so that it may be an ordered service to the community,” he explained. “Its main mission is to facilitate coordination, the capacity to come together to assess the needs, to see what the priorities are, to plan collectively and to share the responsibilities — not in competition, not in duplication, but in synergy.”

“What should be central is the poor,” he emphasised. “The question should be, are we serving the poor? Are we serving the poor? Do we exist to serve, to accompany, and to defend the poor? And if so, what are we doing? And then, how are we doing it? In competition? In duplication? Or in synergy? Or in communion?”

Mons Cibambo expressed gratitude for the involvement of Bishop Dziuba OSPPE, who participated online in the meeting. “First of all, I want to really express my gratitude and satisfaction for the participation of Bishop Dziuba in our meeting this morning. He is the bishop chair of charities, and I am impressed by the understanding that he has about charities,” he said.

 “When he speaks to you, you can feel that he is making this with passion and with conviction. It was very encouraging to have him and to listen to him. And in that sense, I leave with the impression that something is going to happen. And that will move quickly in putting up a structure.”

Mons Cibambo called for the appointment of a new National Director for Caritas South Africa, noting that the position has remained vacant since the departure of Caritas SA national coordinator Sr. Maria de Lurdes Lodi Rissini over two years ago.

“The Secretary General and his or her associates cannot be taking care of all this,” he said. “It is not his responsibility, actually, to coordinate, to run Caritas. It is his responsibility to facilitate the coordination, to make sure that it is operating and functioning efficiently. But he has to delegate this mission to the person who is qualified, who has the competence that is required, because it is a huge mission.”

Mons Cibambo added that leadership within Caritas requires more than technical skill — it requires compassion and spiritual vision. “Nobody can give what he or she does not have,” he said.

“So, if you recruit a person for this position, the person needs to be competent, but with the formation of the heart. Because what makes a difference between a person working in Caritas and maybe a businessperson is the formation of the heart. That person needs a heart that sees, to see with the heart where the people are suffering,” he added.

He also praised the inclusive and ecumenical spirit of Caritas South Africa: “I heard also the sister talking about the ecumenical dimension of our work and the services that we provide to those who need, especially to migrants, etc. We do not discriminate, and that is very, very important.”

Before concluding, Mons Cibambo underlined the vital role of communication in the life of Caritas and the wider Church. “It is a chance to have the possibility to communicate professionally, to make visible the work of the Church,” he said.

“And I hope that we, as Caritas, can also relate to this service — to make our work known. Not to do publicity, but to be able to showcase what Caritas, what the Church is able to achieve in the lives of many people in this country,” he concluded.

Mons Cibambo’s visit to Khanya House underscored the importance of strong national coordination, compassionate leadership, and effective communication for Caritas South Africa to fulfill its mission. As he reminded those present: “Together we are more. Together we are stronger.”